


Threads of Time

by ZombieRed (ZombieLieutenant)



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen, Identity Reveal, Kinda like GroundHog Day, Season 3? I Don't Know Her, Time Loop, Wish Gone Wrong, crossposted on ffn, listen don't ask questions you don't want the answers to okay, phantom planet? who's that?, was this beta-d?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28813515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZombieLieutenant/pseuds/ZombieRed
Summary: "I just want to know what's going on with you, Danny! I wish I could just, I don't know, spend the day figuring out what you've been hiding from me. Then maybe I could help you. But you being closed off from everyone is only hurting you. Can't you see that?"OrMaddie keeps on waking up to Thursday morning
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Maddie Fenton, Jack Fenton/Maddie Fenton
Comments: 90
Kudos: 426





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so in December I was suddenly attacked by the absolute _need_ to write this fic. So I became a woman possessed (ha ha, get it?) and literally haven't been able to work on any other project until I finished this. And here we are! Time shenanigans because it's me so of course it is.
> 
> The fic has already been finished, so don't worry: all the parts will be put up over the next 5-10 days. I'm also cross-posting this to ffn.
> 
> Uh, yeah. Hope you enjoy!

Madeline Fenton awoke slowly, letting herself move gently onto her side before opening her eyes to her digital clock. 06:01. She could laugh; no matter what, Maddie’s body clock seemed to wake her at 6am without fail. She slowly slipped out of bed, careful to not awake her sleeping husband. She stopped for a moment, waiting for the usual grunts he made when waking. The moment passed silently and Maddie smiled. She knew that Jack wouldn’t be upset about being woken up so early. He would be more than happy to help her in the lab at any time. However, lately it seemed that he was tired. As much they didn’t want to admit it they both were getting older. The sun still rose and set each day and they continued to grow older, unlike the ghosts they studied.

Except for Phantom. Maddie suppressed a groan as she entered the bathroom. Mindlessly she began to brush her teeth. Phantom was always breaking the mold. It was like he refused to fit in with everything they knew about ghosts. Ghosts don’t age, except he did. She still felt incredibly stupid for not realizing it until recently. It had been so gradual that his aging hadn’t been noticeable. It was like her own children: she didn’t see them changing day by day. It was only when she took a moment to look back that she realized how much they had grown. It seemed like only yesterday that Jazz was seven-years-old and crying over the pixie cut Maddie gave her. Now she was a beautiful nineteen-year-old college student. Legally an adult. 

Maddie shook her head softly in disbelief and spat out her toothpaste before getting into the shower. She was so incredibly proud of the work that Jazz was putting in. She wasn’t even twenty and was already almost finished with her psychology degree. Maddie was ecstatic that her exam schedule ended up being so front heavy; it meant that Jazz had almost an entire month to be home for winter break. Not that Jazz would be relaxing though, Maddie thought with a smile. She washed her shampoo out, watching the small bubbles swirl down the drain. No, Jazz was working on two projects while staying in her childhood bedroom. She really was a Fenton, even if she wasn’t pursuing ghost hunting.

And then there was Danny. The matriarch stepped out of the shower with a small frown. Her little boy, now a senior at high school. He was such a mystery to her. It hurt, not knowing what had happened with him. They were so close when he was young and he had so much promise. He dreamed of touching the stars as an astronaut and his grades honestly matched. At first. Then as soon as he hit high school everything just… fell apart. His grades fell dramatically, he started lying, he had detention at least once a week, and the _fighting_. As much as he denied it he couldn’t hide the cuts and bruises and blood stains that came home with him. Maddie and Jack were confident that he wasn’t in a gang. She briefly wondered if it was drugs, but (and she wasn’t proud of this) she analyzed his urine when he forgot to flush and it came back negative. Jazz had urged her and Jack to let Danny be, that he ‘needs to find himself and develop his own identity _without_ his parents smothering him’. He wasn’t a bad kid. But she couldn’t help but wonder if she had somehow failed him. She sighed, her tired eyes stared back at her from the bathroom mirror. This wasn’t the first time she asked herself and she was certain it wouldn’t be the last. She leaned over the sink to get a closer look at her face. She placed a finger on the bags under her eyes. Would more sleep get rid of them? Her mind jumped back to Danny; he had permanent bags under his eyes. For all the sleeping he supposedly did in school she wondered what on earth was keeping him up all night. With the amount of times that he broke curfew she and Jack just didn’t bother with one anymore. He began wearing those tired eyes when he was just fourteen. That hadn’t changed over the past three years but so much of him did. Danny had a growth spurt and now stood at almost 6’4” when he wasn’t slouching. He had developed a lean, muscular build which he tried to hide under his baggy clothes. Maddie frowned. Why was he always trying to hide himself? Had she missed something? Maddie took a deep breath and exhaled. She needed to stop herself now before her thoughts spiraled.

After towel-drying her hair the scientist slipped out of the bathroom and made her way downstairs to their laboratory. She softly smiled while sliding into her computer chair. Maddie was in her element when she was surrounded by her various inventions she made with her husband, computer screens, and various informatics taped on the walls and whiteboards. She signed into her account and brought up the grant renewal application. It was only half filled out. This was the part of science that Maddie detested: the bureaucratic paperwork. It had to be filled out and mailed today if they were to make the renewal deadline. She had to do it. She would do it.

It was just so _boring_. She turned her chair to the ghost gabber beside her. It had been three years and they still hadn’t been able to quite iron out the kinks in what should have been a simple device. No matter how many times she and Jack took it apart and put it back together it _still_ treated her son as a ghost and tried to translate his speech. Granted, most of their inventions seemed to react to her son for not entirely understood reasons, but she still wanted to fix it. The desire to try and solve this puzzle gripped her once again and before she realized it Maddie had taken apart the small device. She took out the small container of ectoplasm that powered the device and pursed her lips. The sample in the glass container didn’t look quite right, but she wasn’t able to put her finger on why.

“Maddie!” 

“Whoa!” Maddie cried. She must have jumped 15 feet out of her chair. She gently placed the tube of ectoplasm onto the desk and turned to see her husband standing at the bottom of the stairs with two cups of coffee in his hand.

“Jack, you startled me,” she said. Her husband laughed and placed a hand on her back.

“Sorry about that, Madds. See you’ve been busy with that grant,” he teased. Maddie quickly looked back at her computer screen where no work had been done. She looked at the time: 07:04. At least she hadn’t spent too long fiddling with the ghost gabber. She gave a weak smile.

“I just really, really hate this type of paperwork,” she complained. 

“And I bet not having any coffee isn’t doing much help, now is it?” Jack said. Maddie smiled despite herself. Jack always had a way of warming her up. She leaned towards him and gave his arm a quick squeeze.

“You always know what to say. How about you go shower so you’ll be ready for breakfast.”

“You’ve got it, sweetums.” Jack gave her a kiss on the cheek before leaving her in the basement. Maddie leaned back in her chair and brought up the local news webpage. She might as well read up while she enjoyed her coffee. After reading through a few of the headlines she finished her coffee. It was 7:30, time to wake up her youngest. She knew that if she didn’t he would end up sleeping through his alarm until the afternoon. The scientist rolled back her shoulders and pushed her computer chair back. She made her way up to her son’s room. She paused for a moment placing her hand on the door knob. Contrary to what Danny may have thought she didn’t _actually_ enjoy walking him up in the morning. She never had this issue with Jasmine. Maddie sighed and gave the door a quick knock.

“Danny? Sweetie? It’s time to get up.”

There was no answer.

“Danny I’m coming in.” The mother opened the door gently into her son’s room. The light from the hallway illuminated the dark room. She walked past the many discarded clothes that lay on the floor and began their daily ritual. She sat at the edge of the bed and looked at her son. He didn’t move at all in his sleep, like he was dead to the world. 

“Danny, it’s time to get up.”

“Hrmph,” the teenager replied. Maddie placed her hands on his shoulders and began to shake him softly. Half the time this would be enough to wake him. 

“Da-anny.”

“No…” Danny turned away from his mom, still half asleep. Maddie sighed. She had hoped she wouldn’t have to do this. She stood up, ripped off Danny’s sheets and began to pull on Danny’s ear. He groaned in response and swatted at Maddie. 

“Good, you’re up! Hurry and make your way down for breakfast,” Maddie said cheerily. She left her son to his own devices and made her way down the stairs to the kitchen. She was pleased to see her eldest putting on the kettle. 

“Jazz! Good morning.”

“Morning, mom,” Jazz answered with a yawn. She moved to the fridge and took out the milk.

“Were you up late?” Maddie asked. Jazz gave a small shrug.

“Yeah. I want to finish this project before I go back to school in January,” she explained. Maddie gave a small frown and put in her bread to be toasted.

“Alright, sweetheart. But I don’t want you to overdo it,” she warned. Jazz turned to her mom and smiled. 

“I appreciate that a lot, thank you. But I’m not the child you need to worry about.”

“What do you mean by that?” Maddie asked. She was interrupted by the kettle making a high pitched whistle. Jazz turned her focus to her tea in what seemed like, to Maddie at least, an attempt to avoid answering the question.

“Jazz? What did you mean by that comment?” Maddie repeated. Unfortunately she was interrupted by Jack coming down the stairs. 

“Jazzerincess! How are you this morning?” Jack asked. He gave his daughter a tight hug, carefully avoiding her tea.

“I’m good, dad. How did you sleep?”

“Like a rock!” Jack declared proudly. He sat down with a ‘plop’ almost to prove his point.

“Lucky you,” Danny muttered. Maddie whipped her head to see her son opening the cereal cupboard. When did he come downstairs? She had no idea how on earth he was able to sneak up on her like that constantly. 

“You’re still having trouble sleeping?” Jack asked. Danny gave a sheepish smile.

“It’s fine,” he said softly. Danny took his cereal to the table and took a seat. It was incredible how such a tall young man was able to make himself look so small while sitting. Maddie took out the now toasted bread and began to spread peanut butter on it for her and her husband.

“Maybe you should see a doctor,” Jack suggested. 

“No, no need for that. I’m fine, really,” he said. Maddie frowned.

“Are you sure, Danny? I know you don’t like doctors but it really might help.”

“I’m not-” Danny began.

“You know,” Jazz said loudly, commanding the attention of the family, “I’ve been learning some interesting things about sleep and the psychology behind it in my studies. I might be able to help you with it myself.”

“That’s my girl!” Jack said happily. He slapped her back proudly.

“Thanks. Ouch… A-anyway, oh wow, look at the time. It’s 8 already? Come on, Danny, I’ll drive you to school,” Jazz said. She grabbed her brother by the shirt and almost dragged him out of the kitchen.

“Bye kids! Have a good day!” Maddie called out. The door slammed shut, leaving Maddie and her husband sitting at the table. The redhead exhaled and finished her breakfast. Time to get her day together. She cleaned up breakfast with Jack and made her way back to the lab. Back to the still incomplete grant renewal application.

“Well. It’s not going to write itself. Get at it, Madeline.”

* * *

Two hours later Maddie finally finished the application. She gave a deep exhale. How exhausting. She printed out the document and carefully slid it into a legal-sized envelope. Her husband placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m proud of you, honey,” he said.

“You’re just happy that I did the paperwork instead of you,” she answered dryly. Jack laughed.

“I won’t say that’s _not_ part of it, but I’m still proud of you for finishing it up so quickly.” Maddie gave him a kiss.

“I’m going to the post office now to mail it. I shouldn’t be too long.”

“Are you going to take the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle?” Jack asked with a gleam in his eye. Maddie shook her head with a smile.

“I feel like I need some fresh air after working on that beast. The walk will be good for me. I’ll see you soon enough,” Maddie said with a smile. She gave her husband another kiss and walked up the basement stairs.

“Wait, Maddie!” Jack called out. Maddie turned around to see her husband holding a small slip of paper. “I almost forgot; the post office has our package. Here’s the slip to pick it up.”

“Thanks, Jack. See you!” With that, Maddie grabbed her coat and made her way outside to the cold December air. She loved the crisp air and how it almost burned her nostrils with deep breaths. The sky was clear without a single cloud in sight. A beautiful day. It seemed to congratulate her decision to walk instead of driving. She enjoyed the uneventful 20 minute walk. It seemed rare that she got a period of time where she could just turn off her brain. She was almost upset once she reached the post office. Back to go back to reality. She entered the building and walked to the very bored looking twenty-something at the counter.

“Uh-huh?” he asked. Maddie raised an eyebrow but decided not to comment.

“First of all, I’d like to mail this letter. Preferably express.” Maddie placed the envelope on the counter and slid it to the clerk. He grabbed at the envelope and looked at it lazily.

“Wheresit goin’?” he mumbled. Maddie frowned. Perhaps he was hungover?

“DC.”

“Gotcha. Justa sec.” The clerk typed some things at the computer which printed off a label. He took it and slapped it sloppily onto the envelope.

“That’s uh… $10.78 with tax.”

“I’ll pay on card.” Maddie swiped her card and then paused. There was a sound, faint and in the distance but slowly getting closer. Was it… barking? Something within Maddie told her to prepare, that it was a ghost. She didn’t like to be… overenthusiastic like her husband sometimes was, but she certainly refused to be caught off guard. She slowly moved her hand down to her utility belt and felt for the handle of her ecto-blaster.

“It didn’t go through properly.”

Maddie bent her knees. The sound was getting closer. It was definitely ghostly. 

“Ma’am?”

The door to the post office burst open to a mailman yelling for help and sprinting to the back. Maddie sprung into action, rolling in front of the door and taking aim. Coming towards her was a giant green ghost dog. She’d seen it before… what was it called again? She aimed at the ghost dog and fired. Bullseye. The dog howled in pain and tripped, slamming into the fence outside of the post office. Maddie ran outside towards the ghost and fired another shot. Another howl erupted from the ghost. 

“Hey! That’s animal abuse!”

Maddie looked up to see Phantom speeding towards her. She narrowed her eyes at him and raised her blaster at him. Not that she wanted to destroy him; it was clear over the past three years that he was at least not a purely ‘evil’ ghost. His obsession was at least partially associated with what he perceived to be protecting the town. And not just that, but even she could admit that Phantom had saved them all more than once. However, she never knew _when_ he would turn on them. That’s what always kept her on edge. She refused to be unwittingly duped by him.

That and she still wouldn’t mind studying him. 

The teen ghost brought up his hands. “Hey now, shooting at me would still be considered child abuse.” A noise to her left. Maddie turned just in time to see the ghost dog begin a charge at her. She swung her body around and fired another shot at the dog. It ducked and the ecto blast just grazed his ghostly fur. Shit. Suddenly she felt something grab her arms and her stomach fell to her toes. Phantom had turned them intangible and flew them through the wall into the post office. It was not the first time she had been made intangible but it was still an unsettling sensation. Every cell in her body seemed to almost shiver at the unnaturalness of it. Thankfully Phantom let go of her, bringing them both back to tangibility. Maddie quickly jumped back to her feet. The other ghost was bound to barrel into the office at any second.

“Uh, you’re welcome?” Phantom said. The ghost hunter gave a weak glare.

“Your _pet_ is going to burst through here and wreak havoc any second now,” she explained. Phantom rolled his eyes in a way that was eerily similar to her son.

“Well _shooting_ him certainly didn’t help,” he muttered, crossing his arms. The ghost dog then burst through the wall, destroying not just it but also various cabinets and a display. A piece of debris flew towards Maddie. She ducked and it sliced past her shoulder. Phantom looked at her with fear in his eyes. Not fear _of_ her, but… fear _for_ her?

“Mo-Maddie!” Phantom cried out. He turned to the ghost dog with a stern expression on his face.

“Cujo, no! Stop!”

The ghost dog stopped in its tracks and looked up at the ghost boy. Suddenly it transformed back to a small puppy. Phantom took out his Fenton thermos. His _stolen_ Fenton thermos. 

“Are you gonna go back to the Ghost Zone on your own or do I have to use the thermos?” he asked, as if talking to a child. The ghost dog wagged its tail happily and flew away. Phantom gave a small smile. Maddie did not return it.

“You alright?” Phantom asked. 

“Phantom,” she began, “how do you know if it’ll actually go back and not wreck havoc somewhere else?” Honestly, did he not think? 

“Nah, he’ll listen to me. I’m his ‘master’, after all. He just couldn’t help himself with the mailman. Go figure,” he said. Then he gave a wave and flew away from the chaos, leaving the humans behind to clean up. As always. Maddie gave a sigh and turned back to the counter. Surprisingly, the clerk was still there, mostly unfazed. To be fair, what else did she expect from someone who lived in Amity Park?

“I also have a package I need to pick up,” Maddie said, placing the pickup slip on the counter. The clerk took it and scanned it.

“Yeah, we got it. I still need y’t’ reswipe your card.”

* * *

Maddie exhaled deeply as she unlocked her front door. She was pleased to have her package of ordered custom electronics, of course. She just hadn’t quite planned on getting a shoulder injury while doing so. She opened up the door to her entryway and kicked the door closed behind her. With more effort than she wanted, Maddie took her package to the kitchen and carefully placed it onto the table. 

“Jack! Jack, I’m home!” Maddie called out. No answer. The redhead rolled her eyes and took her way down to the basement. Her husband had started listening to music while working on his interventions. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about it. Jack wasn’t able to hear anyone while he had his headphones on but there was no denying that his productivity was immensely improved. Just as she figured, Jack was at his workbench, music bleeding from his headphones. 

“Jack!”

Her husband perked up and paused his music. He took off his headphones and turned around.

“Maddie? Maddie! You were longer than I expected. Was there a ghost?!” Maddie couldn’t help but smile at Jack’s enthusiasm.

“That ghost dog. And then Phantom showed up, surprise surprise. Before you ask: they _both_ got away,” Maddie grumbled. As she crossed her arms a twitch of pain shot up, reminding her of her injury. She winced.

“Madds, did that ghost boy get you?! I’ll rip him apart-”

“No, it wasn’t Phantom. It’s not that bad, actually. I should be able to handle this myself. Look, it’s almost noon. Do you mind making us lunch while I clean myself up?”

“Of course!” Jack quickly jumped to his feet and made his way up the stairs, leaving Maddie in the lab alone. She walked to the cupboard where the Fenton Family First Aid Kit lived and took out the large red box. She unzipped her signature hazmat suit and slipped out her left arm carefully from its sleeve. The injury wasn’t too bad - the cut was a straight line which wasn’t bleeding too much. No need for stitches, thankfully. No, a simple cleaning and dressing would do fine. Maddie opened the kit in front of her. It needed to be restocked; there was little gauze left and only a few mini-saline bottles left. The bottle of antiseptic was mostly full, thankfully. Same could be said for the antibiotic cream. The lidocaine, surprisingly, was almost empty. Maddie frowned. Who was using _that much_ lidocaine? She would have to ask her family about that later. 

Maddie first used the saline to cleanse the cut itself, catching the run off with a gauze. Painless, as she expected. It was the antiseptic that was the most painful. She bit her lip and applied it. _Ouch_. Knowing it was good for her didn’t make it sting any less. She then applied a thin layer of antibiotic cream and slapped a simple mepore dressing on top. Finally, done. She put the kit away and noticed a red light in her periphery. Maddie turned to the answering machine flashing at her. Of course Jack didn’t hear the phone. She pushed play.

 _‘Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton. This is Mr. Lancer from Casper High. Daniel has… been continuing to miss class, most recently_ my _English class this morning. I would like to have a meeting with you and Daniel after school today at 3:30. If you could please call back to confirm, lunch break is from 11:45 to 12:30 and my number is 555-1229.’_

Maddie placed her hands on her face and groaned. Danny, why? Phone calls like these were much too common and what upset Maddie the most was that this wasn’t a surprise or unusual. If she was honest with herself, part of Maddie had just given up on her son. She was just so tired of the lies and excuses and broken promises to change. With a sigh she returned Mr. Lancer’s call and agreed to his meeting for that afternoon. After she hung up she slumped into her chair.

“Maddie! I made grilled cheese!”

* * *

With a sigh Maddie crawled out of the GAV and walked into the Amity Park mall. She hadn’t meant to put off her Christmas shopping but with all of the work she had to finish in time for the application renewal she woke up and suddenly it was the middle of December and she had done almost none of her shopping. 

Which is how she found herself at a very crowded mall. 

If Maddie didn’t know better she would have wondered if the mall was a portal to a time dilating alternate dimension. Finding gifts for her family was proving difficult; either the product she wanted was sold out or the wrong size or she wasn’t _quite_ sure if it would be a hit. After what Maddie determined was either five minutes or two years she checked to watch to see that it was just after 3pm. She wouldn’t have much more time until she would need to make her way to Danny’s school. That wasn’t a meeting she was looking forward to.

A scream interrupted her thoughts. Maddie immediately snapped to action. That was distinctively a “there’s a ghost!” scream. The huntress threw her shopping bags at the store clerk beside her with a quick “hold these” and ran to the main concourse. The atmosphere was dripping with ghostly energy. An eerie green had taken over the area and the temperature had dropped. Maddie ran to the railing and looked down to the first floor. Standing, er, floating there was the Box Ghost and that technology ghost. Its name seemed to escape Maddie, frustrating her. The techno ghost was saying something about taking people’s gifts and laughing a bunch. Various electronics - in their boxes, Maddie noted - were floating towards him. Well, she would need to stop them from reaching the ghost and combining with it. Thankfully neither ghost had yet noticed her. She reached for her ecto-blaster and held it firmly in her right hand. Feeling much more comfortable with her weapon at the ready, Maddie scanned her surroundings. Across the way on her floor was the video game store Danny and his friends often went to. She could see through the glass walls that the various games were starting to gain that telltale green glow. She ran to the store and slammed its glass door shut.

“H-hey! What gives?” asked one of its patrons.

“Listen to me,” Maddie said. “That ghost down there needs electronics. We need to stop it from getting the ones in here. Got it?”

The woman in front of her simply nodded. The ghost hunter quickly turned around and made her way back to her vantage point of the concourse. The main ghost was starting to use ecto blasts to damage the mall. She leaned over the railing and aimed her blaster at the top of the ghost’s head. Steady… She fired, the blast hitting its target perfectly. The recoil threw Maddie off balance, making her take a few steps backwards.

“Who did that?!” the ghost screamed. It floated up towards where Maddie stood on the 3rd floor. He narrowed his eyes at her. “You!”

“Me,” Maddie confirmed. She fired another blast, hitting him right in the face. Again, Maddie staggered backwards. Her eyes quickly flickered to the ‘ammo’ metre: only three shots left. 

“Leave her alone!” Maddie and the ghost both turned to see Phantom come racing in. He threw an ecto blast at the other ghost, gaining it’s full attention.

“Gladly. You’re my real target after all, halfa child!”

“Hey, I’m almost a legal adult, I’ll have you know,” Phantom quipped. 

“You’re dead,” Maddie found herself deadpanning.

“Not _legally_ though!” Phantom said with a smile. 

“And that’s what I plan on changing,” the technology ghost said. He fired an electrically charged ecto blast which Phantom easily dodged. He growled and seemed to pause. Some of the electronics began to fly towards his body and start to build some sort of suit or shield. Then, for the second time that day, she experienced that familiar sensation of her stomach falling. Phantom had grabbed her once again and intangibly brought both of them down to the main floor. Before she could open her mouth to complain Phantom raised a finger.

“Before you try to capture me and take me apart molecule by molecule or whatever, I need your help. Technus is only going to get stronger with more electronics. Can you make sure that the store doors are closed so he can’t get access to anything else?”

“And how are we going to ensure that the Box Ghost doesn’t open them afterwards? I don’t know if you saw, but they’re working together.” Phantom smiled and took out the _stolen_ Fenton thermos. 

“He won’t be a problem. Usually it takes him a while to escape the thermos,” he said. Maddie sighed. 

“Alright, fine. But I’ll still be watching you,” she warned. To her frustration he only smiled and flew away, leaving her to her task. As much as she didn’t trust the ghost boy, she wasn’t about to let that blind her from stopping that Technus ghost. She quickly made her way to the various store doors and closed them. She checked in on the fight between the ghosts often, trying to gauge who was winning. It seemed that Phantom was using his ice based abilities to freeze the various electronics attached to Technus, making them fall off. Technus in return was using almost… tentacles of different electronics? To trap Phantom and give him electric shocks. Despite this though it was clear that Phantom had the upper hand. He was incredibly strong. Once she shut the last door she found cover to watch the rest of the fight. The ghost boy threw a beam of ice based ectoplasm, hurting the other ghost severely. Phantom took out his thermos, clearly ready to capture the ghost. Maddie averted her eyes to protect them from the bright light of the thermos. Her eyes widened when she saw the Box Ghost hiding, gathering boxes. Clearly ready to attack Phantom. The huntress jumped out from cover and shot at the ghost.

Perfect shot.

The Box Ghost was blasted across the mall as Phantom captured Technus. The main threat captured, Maddie took quick stock of her surroundings. The mall was a mess, half frozen electronics scattered everywhere. Maddie let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. The store clerk from before came running down the escalator towards her with her bags from before, surprising Maddie.

“W-wow. Thank you for actually holding onto these for me,” she said. The young woman gave an awkward smile.

“Well, yeah. Of course. I mean, after you helped Phantom and all I just. I mean, uh, please come again?”

“Sure,” Maddie said. She took her bags from the flustered woman.

“Oh man, 3:30 already?!” Maddie looked up to see an incredibly concerned Phantom. He gave a quick wave and sped off. The huntress wondered where he could have been going in such a hurry. Then his words echoed in her mind.

If it was already 3:30, then she was supposed to be at Danny’s school by now.

Maddie sprinted to the GAV and jumped in, tossing the shopping bags into the back. The vehicle roared to life and she quickly threw it into drive. In a display of driving that rivaled her husband’s, Maddie arrived at Casper High by 3:45. She ran into the school and burst into Mr. Lancer’s office. The middle aged man raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing and simply gestured to one of the two chairs in front of his desk. She nodded, collecting her breath and sat down.

“Where’s Danny?” she asked. As if on cue Danny entered the office.

“S-sorry for being late,” he said in between breaths. Had he run here? From where? What had Danny been doing?

“It seems that tardiness might be a familial trait,” Mr. Lancer muttered under his breath. Then he placed his hands on his desk and looked up at the Fentons.

“So,” he started, “it’s almost the end of term and Daniel has already accumulated twelve absences from my class alone.”

Maddie turned to her son who seemed to sink into his chair, as if that would make him disappear.

“Twelve?!” Danny only smiled weakly in response.

“And that’s not including his almost constant tardiness or attempts to leave the classroom early,” Mr. Lancer added.

“I bring this to your attention because I have concerns not only from an academic point of view, but because I do honestly care about Daniel. We all know that something has been going on for years now and that Daniel has no desire to tell us what it is that’s causing him so much trouble.”

Danny shifted his hips slightly. Maddie wasn’t sure if she was happy or not that he didn’t even try to come up with a lie. Instead he fell into his all too familiar silence. The teacher sighed.

“I’ll get to the point. For Daniel to succeed, and by succeed I mean have a chance at _graduation_ , we need to develop a learning plan.” At this Danny shot up in his seat.

“Graduation? What, you mean I might not graduate?!” At least this triggered a response in him. It hurt Maddie that she was relieved to hear that he at least wanted to _graduate_. Hadn’t he aspired to be an astronaut before? And now he was at risk to not even finish the twelfth grade.

“That is exactly that I mean, Mr. Fenton. Your assignments are often incomplete or simply not handed in at all. When you actually _complete_ your work you do show promise. I need to see actual completed assignments. Due to your poor attendance, you need to achieve at least a C+ average to be eligible for graduation.”

“As in, if he doesn’t have a C+ average, even if he passes, Danny would still not graduate?” Maddie asked. Mr. Lancer nodded.

“Exactly. It’s one of the school policies. Unless, of course, if these absences can be explained...”

Danny said nothing. Maddie sighed. Of course.

“Right. So this learning plan that you mentioned,” Maddie began.

“Of course. So, I am suggesting that three times a week Daniel comes to my office for lunch and spends the lunch hour working on school work. Since I’m here I will make sure that he does so. Mrs. Fenton, I’m wondering if you have time to be in the same room and watch Danny do his school work a couple times a week.”

“You can’t be serious!” Danny said. Mr. Lancer raised his eyebrow at the outburst.

“I most certainly am. Clearly you aren’t doing your school work when left to your own devices. This way we can ensure that you spend at least a couple hours a week on it.”

“I don’t need to be babysat,” Danny mumbled.

“I beg to differ,” Mr. Lance said. Maddie sighed and placed a hand on her son’s arm and suppressed a shiver. He was always so cold to touch.

“Danny, it would only be for a couple of hours twice a week in the lab. You have to agree that this can’t continue the way it’s been going,” she said gently.

“I’ll just have to get better at being at two places at once,” he muttered. Maddie tilted her head. Did she hear him right?

“Pardon? You were muttering again, sweetie.”

“I _said_ , are we done yet?” Maddie frowned. That was not what he had said. Mr. Lancer gave an exasperated sigh.

“Yes, I suppose we are. Here, I’ve written out your learning plan. I just need you both to sign, showing that you are aware of the expectations. I will email you a copy of it later, Mrs. Fenton.” Maddie nodded and signed the document before passing it to Danny. The teen hastily scribbled his signature before getting up quickly and slinging his backpack over one of his shoulders.

“Can we go home now?” he whined. 

“Watch the attitude, Danny. Mr. Lancer, thank you for calling me in. I do appreciate your concerns for Danny,” Maddie said. She followed Danny out of the office and the two walked silently to the parking lot. When they got to the car Danny paused before getting in.

“Danny?”

“Mom, uh. Is the GAV Spectral Deflector on?” he asked. Maddie shook her head.

“No. It just uses too much power if I’m not running the car. Last thing we need is for the battery to die. This isn’t an easy jumpstart,” Maddie explained. Danny seemed relieved and got into the passenger seat. Maddie started the car and began the drive home. She kept on looking over at the lanky teenager beside her. She didn’t know quite where to start. He was mere inches away from her but it felt more like oceans. Why couldn’t she just connect with her son anymore? Why wouldn’t he let her?

“Danny…”

“I know, I know. You’re disappointed in me,” he said. He kept his eyes firmly looking outside the window. Maddie bit her lip.

“Danny, I just want to _understand_.”

“I’m a bad student. What is there to understand?”

“Don’t! Do not say that. You’re a good kid, I know you are. But you won’t talk to anyone! Not me, not your dad, not Mr. Lancer. It’s frustrating, Danny. You have so much potential. You could do so much and instead you’re skipping school to do, what exactly?”

Danny didn’t answer.

“Twelve absences? Really? How am I supposed to react to that, Danny? And now hearing that you might not even graduate? I’m trying to be a good mom here, I really am. But you have to help me out here,” Maddie explained. Danny kept his body turned away from her.

“You are a good mom,” he mumbled.

“Then why can’t I help you? Why won’t you _let_ me?”

“There’s nothing for you to help with.”

“I just want to know what’s going on with you, Danny! I wish I could just, I don’t know, spend the day figuring out what you’ve been hiding from me. Then maybe I could help you. But you being closed off from everyone is only hurting you. Can’t you see that?” Maddie asked. She rolled into their parking spot on the street and turned off the car.

“Danny, Danny look at me,” she commanded. The teen finally turned around and looked at her. He gave a shiver and began to look around, as if he forgot something. He put one hand on the van door, looking like a scared animal. Ready to run.

“Danny, I love you, okay?”

“I know. I love you, too. Can I go now?”

“I love you no matter what, alright?”

Danny made an odd face at that, as if he didn’t fully believe that. Before Maddie could try to decipher the enigma that was her son he jumped out of the car, leaving her behind. The mother groaned. What on earth was she doing wrong? She felt a tug in her chest and it began to tighten. Maddie took a deep breath, held it, and exhaled. She was Madeline Fenton, god damnit, and she was going to keep herself together. After a few moments she got out of the car and followed her son inside. 

* * *

Dinner was tense, to put it lightly. Danny had immediately disappeared upstairs once he had gone home. Maddie suspected he went to his sister. At least he would talk to _someone_. She had to look at the bright side. She knew that Jazz was good for Danny. They had become much closer over the past few years. Maddie briefly considered going to her door to try and hear their conversation but stopped herself. Ultimately she wanted Danny to come to her and tell her himself. She wanted to give him that chance.

Dinner was silent. Even Jack could tell the mood was a sour one. He kept looking from Maddie to Danny and then would open his mouth as if to say something before closing it and continuing with his dinner. Danny poked at his meatloaf with his fork. Surprisingly it was Maddie who broke the silence.

“After dinner tonight, Danny, I’ll have you come down to the lab with me to do your school work,” she said. Danny immediately stopped and looked up from his half eaten dinner.

“Mom-”

“You signed the learning plan, Danny. Part of that plan is you doing your work under supervision. We only have to do two times a week, but tonight is going to be one of them.” Maddie stared her son down. He looked over to Jazz as if she could get him out of it. His sister just shook her head softly. Danny dropped his shoulders even further.

“Fine.” Maddie leaned back in her chair, content with her son’s answer. She kept her eye on him as he stood up to clean his plate. Maddie swore, that boy sometimes just vanished. The redhead got up from her seat.

“Danny, let’s go to the lab,” she said. 

“My uh, school bag. It’s in my room,” he said. Maddie gestured to the stairs.

“Then go get it. And don’t even think about sneaking out of your window.” Danny gave a small wince but nodded. Maddie was pleasantly surprised when he came back just a minute later with his bag. The two made their way down to the basement. Maddie gestured to one of the work stations which Danny took. He threw his bag onto the table and sat down. Maddie gave a sigh and sat at her station. She watched Danny from the corner of her eye. After half an hour she was satisfied that he wasn’t about to pull one of his famous disappearing acts and relaxed into her work. She turned to the dismantled ghost gabber from the morning and gave a shrug. Might as well get to it, she thought. Jack soon joined her and began to process the new ectoplasm needed to power it. It was a welcome break for Maddie to be able to throw herself into her work. After such a long, stressful day she found herself finally relaxing. Here was something she was good at. Not cooking, not shopping, not apparently being a failure as a parent. No, her work was something that made her actually feel comfortable.

Maddie placed the finishing touches on the improved ghost gabber. She was certain that it would work now. She was incredibly proud of her handiwork. The scientist glanced over to her monitor and was surprised to see that it was almost 9pm. Two and a half hours had disappeared in a flash. She looked over to see Danny still working at his desk. She smiled at the sight. Maddie wasn’t quite sure if he would manage. She walked over to her son and placed a hand on his cold shoulder. He looked up at her.

“I’m proud of your work, Danny. It’s been almost three hours. You can go back to your room for the night if you’d like,” she said. Danny smiled at her.

“Thanks, mom,” he said.

“Thanks, mom. I’m a ghost. Fear me,” the ghost gabber said. 

No.

Maddie glared at the device sitting at her station. She couldn’t believe it; she was so sure that she had fixed it so it would no longer pick up her son as a false positive. And yet the _stupid_ invention just taunted her. The entirety of the day seemed to suddenly just hit her all at once: her failure as a hunter to capture any of the ghosts today; her failure as a mother when it came to Danny; her failure as a scientist to fix the ghost gabber. She grabbed the device, the physical embodiment of everything that was going wrong, and threw it against the wall. It exploded into pieces, scattering across the entire lab. The basement was still. Maddie stared at the wall, absorbing what she just did. She was so stupid; Maddie couldn’t believe that she let her anger overtake her. 

“Maddie-” Jack began.

“I’m going out for a walk,” Maddie said curtly. She quickly made her way out of the lab and stormed outside. She needed space. She needed to get away, be anywhere but there. The streets were dark. Maddie welcomed the cold biting air. She began to walk down the block. Her walk became a jog, which became a run, which became a full on sprint. She ran until her muscles screamed at her and her lungs were burning. Finally, her body couldn’t take it anymore and she came to a stop. The redhead took a minute to catch her breath before looking up and taking in her surroundings. She found herself at the edge of her neighbourhood, several blocks away from home. Maddie shook her head and began to make her way back home. She was exhausted, not just physically but mentally and emotionally. She knew she’d sleep well that night. She was ready for the day to end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah good luck with that Maddie


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2! Thank you so much for deciding to give this fic a chance and continuing from the first chapter. <3

Maddie awoke the next morning with a long, lazy yawn. Finally, it was Friday. She was ready for the weekend. Maddie was hoping to spend some time with her kids as a family. Perhaps they could go ice skating? Maddie rolled to her digital clock: 06:01. Funny, that was the exact same time as yesterday. She gave a stretch and after ensuring that she hadn’t woken up Jack, made her way to the bathroom. She gave herself a hot, steamy shower to soothe her muscles. Maddie was surprised that she wasn’t sore at all that morning after the events the day before. If they didn’t hurt now they most certainly would later. Some heat would hopefully prevent the worst of it. It wasn’t until she looked at herself in the mirror that she realized something wasn’t quite right.

Her shoulder dressing was missing.

Not only was the dressing missing, but the wound was simply _gone_. There was no evidence that it had even occurred. She traced her finger against the skin but there was no scar tissue, no pain, nothing. 

What was going on?

Maddie narrowed her eyes. This had to be ghostly in origin, somehow. What in their lives wasn’t? She quickly got dressed and made her way to the lab. If a ghost was involved she was certain that she could figure it out. If anyone could, it would be her - an expert in the field. The scientist sat in her chair and signed into her computer account and froze.

Staring back at her was the incomplete grant renewal application from yesterday.

Maddie placed her head in her hands. She was so sure that she had completed it yesterday and mailed it. Had she dreamed it? Was she still half asleep? Was she _actually_ asleep and this was the dream? Thoughtlessly, she pinched herself. Nope, she was definitely awake. So what on earth was going on? She searched through her files, looking for the completed application. It had to be here, somewhere in her files. Why did she have so many word documents named different variations of “sklfjs”? She could feel frustration begin to bubble within her. That flipping thing, as her kids would say, ‘sucked ass’ to do the first time. There was _no way_ she was going to do it again.

“Maddie!”

“J-Jack?!” Maddie cried out. She jumped out of her chair, startled by her husband. He held two mugs in his hands and placed one at Maddie’s desk. Her eyes flashed to the time on her computer screen: 07:04.

“Jack,” Maddie began slowly, “where is the grant application?” She turned to her husband who was looking at her with a confused look.

“You’re doing it on your computer, aren’t you Madds?” Jack asked. Maddie stared at him with wide eyes. Something was wrong. Something was very incredibly wrong.

“I did it yesterday, remember? Yesterday was the deadline,” she said softly. Jack gave a frown and crossed his arms thoughtfully. Maddie’s eyes moved to her desk and she felt her heart stop.

“No, the deadline is Thursday, today.”

There on her desk was the ghost gabber, completely intact. 

What the _hell_ was going on?!

The room began to spin and Maddie felt her body sway. She vaguely knew that Jack was talking to her but she just couldn’t be bothered to understand what he was saying. The edges of her vision were growing darker, darker, darker.

Maddie fell out of her chair and onto the floor. 

* * *

A jostling woke Maddie up. Her eyes flew open and she quickly shut them again. The light she was staring at was so bright. She turned her head and slowly opened her eyes again, letting them adjust to her surroundings. There was something tickling her nose. What was in her nose? She moved her arm slowly to pick at the foreign material.

“Na-ah, don’t touch that,” a voice reprimanded. Deep, male.

“Oh, she’s awake?” a second voice asked. Raspy, but with a note of softness. Female. Something squeezed her left arm, startling Maddie.

“Just taking another pressure, you’re fine. Relax now,” the second voice said. Maddie looked up to see a thirty-something-year-old woman in a paramedic uniform leaning over her. Her purple eyes flickered around. She was in an ambulance, if she had to take a guess. 

“What happened?” Maddie asked.

“You fainted, ma’am. Gave your husband a real scare. Heh, scare. Aw, come on, Minnie, that’s funny. They’re ghost hunters and they got a _scare_ ,” the first paramedic said. Minnie did not seem impressed with his joke. Maddie immediately liked her more. 

“Your vitals are looking fine. We’re just taking you to emerg just to make sure you’re alright,” Minnie explained. Maddie frowned.

“How long will everything take? W-where’s my husband? Are my kids alright?” Maddie began to sit up only to have the first paramedic place a hand on her shoulder and guide her back to a lying position.

“Easy now, ma’am. Your family is fine. They’re following us in your uh… battle van, is it?” he asked.

“Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle.”

“Right, uh, that. Anyway, I doubt you’ll be more than just a few hours. And lucky for you we’re here!” The ambulance came to a stop and the paramedics opened the doors. They grabbed the stretcher that Maddie was lying on. 

“Just a couple of bumps,” Minnie said. They slid Maddie out and took her into the hospital. She was taken directly to a bed just past triage. 

“Alright ma’am, I need you to give yourself a hug and we’ll transfer you to the bed,” the male paramedic said. Maddie weakly grabbed her body with her arms and nodded. The staff around her grabbed the sheet that Maddie was lying on. 

“One, two, _three!_ ” On three Maddie was swiftly transferred onto the bed. Minnie then took off the blood pressure cuff that was on Maddie’s arm. She just barely overheard the other paramedic speaking to the nurse (?) standing by her bed, speaking mostly in medical jargon. 

“Good luck, Mrs. Fenton. Big fan of your work, by the way,” she said with a wink. Then the paramedics left as soon as they came. Maddie turned to see the nurse closing the curtains around her bed.

“Good morning, Mrs. Fenton. My name is Lindsey and I’m one of the nurses here. I’m going to quickly take your vitals and then do you think you’re able to take your uh, suit thing off? The doc wants a proper ECG so it’ll be easier to put the leads on if you’re wearing a gown,” she said as she placed a new blood pressure cuff on Maddie’s arm. She nodded slowly, impressed at the speed this nurse was moving. The cuff on her arm gave another squeeze. The nurse shrugged. Clearly the numbers weren’t overly concerning to her, whatever they were. She then ripped off the cuff. 

“Right, uh, if you could get changed. I’ll give you a bit of privacy. Oh, uh, don’t get up though. You can sit up _slowly_ ,” Lindsey said. She quickly slipped out between the curtains, leaving Maddie alone. She felt like a whirlwind had hit her and now it had finally dispersed, leaving her alone in the aftermath. She could almost feel her brain beginning to wake up. She took the nurse’s advice and slowly propped herself up. Maddie’s body felt a little weak, but otherwise fine. She unzipped her hazmat suit and slipped her arms out. Madder decided she could probably keep the bottom part on. She tied her sleeves around her waist then took her bra off and put on the blue gown. Then she sat, waiting for the nurse to return. She looked at the wall to her right to see an IV pole and whiteboard with the date written on it:

Thursday, December 12th.

Somehow, Maddie realized, _somehow_ she was living through Thursday again. Like that Bill Murray movie. It sounded crazy, but it was the only explanation she could come up with. Other than she actually was crazy, but Maddie doubted she had lost her mind in such a strange way. No, she was experiencing the same day. The question was: why? Maddie crossed her arms. Well obviously it had to be ghostly in its origin. Perhaps some sort of time ghost? She wondered if anyone else was also reliving Thursday. She was taken out of her thoughts by the nurse returning.

“Coming in, are you dressed? Oh, oh good. Awesome. Alright, uh, I’m just going to attach the leads if that’s alright. I’ll uh, have to lift up the gown,” Lindsey said. Maddie nodded and let the nurse place the round stickers on various landmarks on her chest. Various wires were then attached onto the small metal bits that stuck out from the middle of the stickers. 

“Perfect. Right, let’s hope that IV they put in is still good,” Lindsey said, mostly to herself. She turned over Maddie’s right arm to reveal an IV port in her elbow. How had Maddie not noticed that before? It must have been put in when she was unconscious. The nurse attached some IV tubing to Maddie and turned to her. 

“Are you feeling up to visitors?” she asked. Maddie nodded.

“Got it. Alright, but if you need to rest just let me know and I’ll kick them out,” Lindsey said. She disappeared through Maddie’s curtains and was almost immediately replaced by Jack, Jazz and Danny. Jack immediately sat on the edge of her bed and grabbed her hand.

“Maddie, are you okay? How are you feeling?” he asked. Maddie gave a weak smile.

“Fine, to be honest,” she answered. It wasn’t a complete lie: she felt okay physically. Jazz frowned.

“Do you know why you fainted like that?”

“I, uh, not really.”

“I think I overheard the nurses saying it might be dehydration,” Danny suggested. 

“That could be it,” Maddie said, knowing full well that it was not dehydration. She wanted to explain what was going on but there were hospital staff everywhere. The last thing Maddie needed was to be admitted to a psych ward. Not only that, she didn’t want to concern Jazz or Danny. They already had so much going on with school, they didn’t need Maddie’s existential temporal nightmare weighing down on them. Especially Danny, with the possibility of him not graduating. Maddie suddenly snapped her head to her son.

“Danny, you should be at school!” she admonished. The teen scratched the back of his neck and averted his gaze to his shoes.

“I-I guess. I just wanted to make sure you were okay, mom. You kind of scared us,” he said. Maddie felt her heart ache; she never wanted to scare her children. She opened up her arms.

“Aw, Danny. Come here.” Danny bit his lip and looked away for a moment before letting himself lean into Maddie. She gave him a tight hug, hoping that she could bring some warmth to his cold body. He quickly recoiled (he was a teenager), but kept a soft smile on his face. Her family spent a few more minutes with her before the doctor came in who confirmed what Danny had said; they suspected dehydration.

“Just gonna give you some fluids through the IV, monitor you for a little bit afterwards, and then if all goes well you’ll be off on your way before lunch,” he said. When no one immediately asked any questions he quickly dipped out through the curtains. 

“You hear that? I’ll be fine. Jazz, here, I’ll write a quick note for the morning. Could you take Danny to school?” Maddie asked. Danny reluctantly agreed to leave, and after writing a note he and his sister left the ER, leaving only Jack to sit with his wife. Maddie stroked his hand softly. She kept on wanting to tell him that she was in some sort of time loop and then would be reminded of her surroundings. So she bit back her words and waited until she could return home.

* * *

Just like the doctor predicted, Maddie was discharged before noon. She was relieved to be back in the lab where she could find answers. But she knew she would need help. Jack came downstairs with grilled cheeses that he insisted on making. Maddie waited until he sat himself down with his lunch before speaking. There were a few moments of silence while she mulled over the exact wording she wanted to use.

“Jack, you’re not going to believe this, but I’m reliving today,” she explained. Jack put down his sandwich onto his plate.

“What uh, what do you mean by that exactly?” he asked. Maddie licked her lips.

“Today. Thursday. I’ve already lived through it once. But I woke up this morning and it was Thursday again.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Absolutely positive. And I think the cause is most likely ghostly in nature,” Maddie explained. She leaned forward in her chair and Jack mirrored her. He put his hands together, took a deep breath in through his nose, and exhaled through his mouth.

“Alright. I believe you.”

“I know, it sounds crazy- wait, you believe me?” Maddie was gob smacked. Without any evidence Jack was instantly supporting her. She couldn’t help the huge smile growing on her face. He really was her biggest support, her perfect partner, the love of her life.

“Of course I believe you, Maddie! I trust you with my life. Now, where do we start?” Jack jumped out of his seat, ready to go. Maddie pursed her lips in thought and swiveled her computer chair from side to side in thought. She rotated a bit extra to the left and noticed the red light of the answering machine blinking at her.

Right, Mr. Lancer wanted to talk to her about Danny today. As much as she didn’t want to go through that conversation again, Maddie knew she had to. Danny needed to hear from his teacher how close he was to not graduating, and if Jack was able to fix whatever ghostly influence was messing with Maddie she didn’t want him to miss this meeting. It was best to treat the day with the assumption that tomorrow would indeed become Friday.

“Maddie?” The scientist turned to her husband, brought out of her thoughts.

“Right. How about we try out the Fenton Ecto-Scanner, see if it can pick any ectoplasmic residue,” she suggested. Jack’s face lit up. They had only recently finished their prototype of the Fenton Ecto-Scanner. The Ecto-Scanner used a laser to take a 3D image of the subject by taking literally tens of thousands of thin image ‘slices’ of the subject which are then stacked together in the Fenton Ghostly Image program. This first version was a large, full body scanner partially built into the wall. They hadn’t yet had a chance to use it and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

“That’s a great idea! Let me power it on, it should just take a few minutes,” Jack said. Maddie nodded and used the time to give Mr. Lancer a quick call to let him know that she would be at the afternoon meeting. She then walked over to the large machine. It began to make something akin to an electronic purring sound. It had a small mat showing where Maddie needed to stand. She stepped onto the green mat and turned to face Jack. Her husband stood at his computer and gave her a thumbs up which she reciprocated. With intense concentration he input the commands on his computer and a glass plane slid in front of Maddie, confining her into the mostly metal tube. It was certainly a good thing that Maddie wasn’t claustrophobic. The motor of the scanner buzzed around Maddie as the flat red light began to slowly scan down her body, centimetre by centimetre. It wasn’t a quick scan, that was for sure. It would take about 45 minutes in all to complete. Jack used the chance to have Maddie tell him what happened during her first Thursday. She was pleasantly surprised to find that talking out what had happened not only made her feel better but also passed the time quickly. The scanner’s motor slowed to a stop and the glass plane slid open.

“That’s a wrap then. It’ll take me some time to go through it completely though. Haven’t yet finished up the program to do it automatically,” Jack said. Maddie walked over to her husband and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“I know you’ll do an amazing job. Shall I help you out?” Maddie asked. To her surprise Jack shook his head.

“If I understand what you told me, that techno-ghost is gonna be attacking the mall soon,” Jack said. Maddie could get a sense of where he was going.

“Yes, but Phantom did most of the work and handled him fairly well. I can help you _here_ ,” she said. Her husband shook his head.

“Don’t you remember, you said you had to blast the Box Ghost right at the end? If you’re not there Phantom might have a tougher time capturing that ghost. Which could cause more damage until he does,” he explained. Maddie bit her lip. He was right. She knew that he knew that she knew he was right. And she would be lying if she said that she didn’t want to be there. Maddie gave an over dramatic sigh and gave her husband a kiss. 

“You know me so well, Jackie.”

“Go kick some ghost ass!”

* * *

Maddie arrived at the mall just in time for Technus to reveal himself with the Box Ghost. His ethereal laugh sent a shiver down Maddie’s spine. He nodded to the Box Ghost who brought up his arms. About a dozen boxes in a green glow floated towards the two ghosts. Once they reached them the boxes opened on their own to reveal their electronic contents. Maddie quickly got herself to cover and assessed the situation. What was going to be her best plan of attack to minimize the damage that Technus and Phantom would undoubtedly cause?

“Beware, as your boxed technological gifts are taken from you!” Technus shouted. Several mall patrons ran for cover, escaping immediate harm. Maddie took aim at the Box Ghost. If her suspicions were correct then he was doing much of the ‘heavy lifting’ for Technus by controlling the boxes. With him out of the way it would use much more energy for Technus to gain access to the electronics. She readied her blaster and fired. Bullseye: the Box Ghost was knocked flat on his back. A quick glance at Technus confirmed that he hadn’t even noticed his partner’s injury. There was a flash of light and Maddie watched the Box Ghost get sucked up into Phantom’s (stolen) thermos. The huntress switched her attention back to the unaware Technus. Should she start to close the store doors like she had before for Phantom, or begin to weaken him with her blaster? She had not just the blaster with her this time but also the Fenton Ecto-Sword, a double edged beam sword. She was confident that she could inflict more damage in ranged combat. She turned to the department store entrance to her right and sighed. No, her mission today was to minimize collateral. She could have fun once she got out of this time loop, she decided. Now she just needed to get to the store without being noticed. Thankfully, Phantom decided to use that moment to begin his attack on Technus. He threw an ecto blast at the other ghost’s head, gaining his full attention.

“Sorry, I’m going to have to cut your Christmas shopping short,” Phantom said.

“Of course it would be the halfa child,” Technus bemoaned.

“Hey, I’m almost a legal adult, I’ll have you know,” Phantom quipped. Then he shook his head. “Whoa, déjà vu.” Maddie raised an eyebrow. Ghosts were able to experience deja vu?

“I’m going to make you legally _dead_ ,” Technus cried out. He threw an electrified ecto blast which Phantom easily dodged. Well, that was as good a time as ever for Maddie to finish her job of limiting Technus’s access to more electronics. She finished her task just in time to see Phantom get the last shot he needed before he could capture Technus in the Fenton thermos. Where was the Box Ghost? She glanced around quickly-

There!

Maddie fired her blaster, once again knocking the Box Ghost away. Just like last time Phantom was successful in his capture. He then turned to Maddie and gave a smile.

“Thanks, by the way, for the help. And not shooting me,” he said. Maddie crossed her arms.

“Simply the lesser of two evils. This doesn’t mean I trust you, Phantom.”

“Hey, I’m not evil!” Maddie raised an eyebrow and looked at the stolen thermos in his hands. 

“Because stealing is _so_ incredibly not evil.” Phantom winced.

“ _Technically_ I didn’t steal it? I-it’s different, I need it,” Phantom stammered. It was amazing how much he reminded her of her son trying to come up with an excuse. She and Jack had theorized that Phantom spent much of his time studying teens and mimicking their mannerisms. Maddie looked at her watch: 3:25. Shoot, she was going to be late for her meeting with Mr. Lancer again. Why didn’t she ask earlier for it to be moved?

“I don’t have time for this right now. I have an appointment at 3:30 that I’m already going to be late for. You’re lucky this time, Phantom,” Maddie warned. The ghost’s face suddenly blanched and he flew away without another word. If only Maddie could fly herself. She jumped into the GAV and just like before drove like a bat out of hell to the school. Racing through the school, Maddie slid into Mr. Lancer’s office. She looked up at the clock; this time it was 3:40. She relaxed into the seat Mr. Lancer gestured to.

“Sorry I’m late, there was a ghost attack,” she said. Mr. Lancer nodded. It would be five more minutes until Danny would arrive, Maddie noted.

A second later Danny burst into the room, panting. 

“S-sorry for being late,” he said in between breaths. What was he doing there? Maddie was five minutes earlier this time, so why was Danny also running five minutes earlier?

“It seems that tardiness might be a familial trait,” Mr. Lancer muttered under his breath. Then he placed his hands on his desk and looked up at the Fentons.

“So,” he started, “it’s almost the end of term and Daniel has already accumulated twelve absences from my class alone.”

Maddie put her head in her hands. This was not a conversation she wanted to have again. It wasn’t any more pleasant the second time around.

“God, Danny. Twelve?” Danny only smiled weakly in response.

“And that’s not including his almost constant tardiness or attempts to leave the classroom early,” Mr. Lancer added. He then continued to explain, just as he did before, that there was a chance Danny may not graduate. They developed the same learning plan which Danny very reluctantly agreed to. They signed the paper and Danny very moodily walked to the GAV, Maddie behind him. He paused before opening the passenger car door, just as he did before.

“Mom, uh. Is the GAV Spectral Deflector on?” he asked. Maddie paused and then shook her head. Why did he ask that?

“No, it’s not,” Maddie said. Danny gave a sigh of relief and got into the GAV. Maddie began the drive home.

“Danny,” she said softly.

“You’re disappointed in me, I know,” he said, keeping his eyes looking firmly outside. Maddie sighed. She had already failed this conversation but maybe she could fix it this time. It wasn’t very often that you got the chance to redo things.

“I _love_ you, Danny. I love you and want to support you. What do you need from me?”

Danny stayed silent for a few minutes. Maddie gave him the time.

“I… I need you to trust me,” Danny said. 

“I do trust you,” Maddie said. She took her right hand off the steering wheel and reached for Danny’s hand. He pulled his ice cold hand away as soon as she touched it.

“Danny…”

“I… Sorry mom.” Maddie sighed. What had she said wrong? 

“I just… Sweetie, I just want to connect with you, help you. Now, I know you don’t want to do this, but part of me helping you includes making sure you graduate. Do you understand where I’m coming from?”

“Y-yeah, yeah I get it,” Danny said. Maddie gave a small smile.

“Good. You’re a good kid, alright? I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?” Maddie asked. Danny stayed silent and looked out the window. The mother sighed and pulled into their parking spot outside of the house.

“Well, it was worth a shot. I’ll have you work supervised in the lab after dinner,” Maddie said. Danny nodded and got out of the GAV. Well, Maddie thought. At least it had gone better this time.

* * *

After dinner Maddie led Danny down to the lab to supervise him doing his homework. Once he got set up Maddie turned to Jack’s station. He was painstakingly going through each individual scan, looking at the artifacts picked up by the laser, removing noise and other unwanted interference while amplifying any traces of ectoplasm. While it wasn’t especially difficult, it was incredibly time consuming. She sat next to her husband who was diligently working to help her. She placed a hand on his arm, interrupting his typing.

“Jack, save this on the server so I can help,” she said softly. He nodded and moved the files so Maddie could access them from her station. She sat at her desk and opened the files. God, there were so many of them. Jack had been at it for hours and he was only a little more than halfway done.

“Jack, I’ll start from the bottom and you continue working your way from the top, got it?”

“Sounds like a plan, Maddie!”

The scientist got to work, slowly working through each individual file methodically. After about ten she began to fall into a good rhythm. As Danny would say, she was ‘in the zone’. Maddie was consumed in her work, which is why when Danny placed a hand on her shoulder Maddie jumped in her chair.

“Christ, Danny. You scared me,” she said. The teen gave a small laugh.

“Sorry about that, mom. It’s almost 10, can I go to my room now?” he asked. She looked at her monitor to confirm that he was right. Had it really been hours? Exhaustion suddenly hit Maddie like a truck and a yawn escaped from her.

“Sorry, Danny. I hadn’t noticed the time. Of course you can go.” Danny nodded. Before he could leave, however, Maddie grabbed his cold arm.

“Hey. I’m proud of you for doing this tonight. I know you didn’t want to.” The teen gave a soft but warm smile and silently walked up the stairs, leaving the scientists to their work. After another hour Maddie stood up triumphantly.

“Finished!”

Excitedly, she turned to Jack to see him fast asleep at his workstation. Her expression softened. Here was her husband, working so hard for her. Once this was all over she’d have to go to the specialty store to get that high quality fudge he liked so much. Maddie turned back to her computer, inputting the now edited files into their Fenton Scanner program. The 3D image it returned was striking: surrounding Maddie was about a dozen ectoplasmic threads, pulling at her in different directions. She looked down at her leg. She couldn’t see the threads with her bare eyes, but there they were, clear as day on her monitor. 

She quickly flew to the (not yet used) ghost dissection kit and took out an ecto scalpel. If anything could cut the threads that surrounded her, it would be that. Using the image on the scanner as a guide Maddie moved the blade across her body, feeling for the faint resistance of the strands. It took a few moments before she found one. She smiled: finally, she would be rid of this nightmare. The scientist pushed against the invisible thread’s resistance.

It didn’t break.

Maddie’s eyes widened. Why couldn’t she cut it? This blade cut through all ectoplasm. And yet the blade was immobile, unable to slice forward no matter how much force Maddie exerted on it. 

Panic swelled within Maddie. No, she had to be able to do it. What was the point of anything of this? The threads were chaining her to Thursday, leaving her utterly trapped. No, she was not going to be helpless. With shaking hands Maddie continued pushing the blade against the thread. It refused to budge. Maybe, maybe it was just that one, right?

Right?

Maddie scanned for another thread, this time one around her left arm. After a few minutes she finally felt the resistance she was looking for. Again, the blade was stopped in its path. No matter how much force she exerted, the thread would not break. What the hell was this? Some sort of new ectoplasm that hadn’t yet been discovered? How was she supposed to cut through it? No, she had to be able to cut it. Perhaps a different angle was needed? Unfortunately for Maddie, no matter what angle she tried the results remained the same. She looked up at the clock and her stomach dropped.

11:59pm

She continued to struggle against the threads, swearing, sweating, screaming-

The clock struck midnight and she found herself back in her bed. She looked over at her digital clock beside her. 06:01.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sucks to be Maddie, doesn't it? 
> 
> Also can you tell that I work in health care and _not_ in programming? I mean to be fair I've never worked in an ER but I have friends who do. Also big shout out for [REDACTED] for being the basis for the ER nurse here. Love you babe <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, is that a POV change? This chapter also features some of my headcanons;;

Danny groaned. He had spent most of the night on a wild goose chase with a flipping _goose_ ghost of all things. It wasn’t until like, 5am that he finally captured the stupid ghost, threw it into the Ghost Zone, and passed out. And since Danny just had the _greatest_ luck it was a school night. At least the week was almost over?

So yeah, he didn’t really feel like getting up this morning at 7 flipping 30 in the goddamn morning. His mom didn’t seem to get the memo though.

“Danny, come on. I’m tired of doing this every time,” she said. Danny rolled over away from her.

“Hrmph,” he replied. Danny’s mom sighed and placed her hands on his shoulders. God, Danny was so tempted to become intangible and let her hands just phase through him. No, Danny. Do not use ghost powers for an additional three seconds of sleep. His better judgement won out and let Maddie shake him. They both knew what was next if he didn’t get up: Maddie would rip off his sheets and pull his ear. 

But Danny was stubborn. He winced in pain as she tugged at his ear.

“ _Mom!_ ”

“Alright, you’re up. Hurry and make your way down for breakfast,” she instructed. Then his mom got up from Danny’s bed and left him alone in his room. She could have at least closed his door. Danny looked at the door knob of his open door and concentrated. Come on, Danny, you can do it. Feel the latent ectoplasm in the air… feel for it…

Nothing. With a groan the teenager got up and pushed his door closed. He had been trying to see if he could develop ecto-telekinesis. So many other ghosts (including the Box Ghost! _The freaking Box Ghost_!) were able to use latent ectoplasm to move objects and Sam pointed out that maybe he could develop that ability. His evil future self was able to, at any rate. However, the half ghost was finding this ability difficult to grasp. He had only been working on it since Monday, though. Like Sam often said: he needed to be patient with himself.

But man, being patient sucked _ass_.

He quickly got dressed and stumbled into the bathroom in a half-conscious daze. Had he actually opened the door or did he just phase through it? Danny splashed his face with cold water. The halfa had to wake up before he did something obvious enough for his parents to notice. He had kept this secret for three years; he was _not_ about to have it unravel because he forgot that doors were a thing. He gave his face a quick slap. Pull it together, Fenton! After finishing up in the bathroom he opened the door like a normal human person and dragged himself to the kitchen for breakfast. The rest of his family was already getting themselves sat around the table. His dad exclaimed how well he slept last night.

“Lucky you,” Danny mumbled. Weird, he suddenly got a sense of déjà vu. With a shrug he reached out for a box of cereal and joined his family at the table. He suppressed a yawn and started to shovel the off-brand cereal into his mouth.

“You’re still having trouble sleeping?” his dad asked. Danny swallowed his cereal and gave a sheepish smile.

“It’s fine,” he mumbled. He tried to push as much attention off of him as possible. Maybe he would be lucky and his dad would drop it.

“Maybe you should see a doctor.” Ah, yes. Of course he had no such luck. Why did he have to have a cold core and not a luck core? Were lucky cores even a thing? Maybe he’d ask Clockwork next time he saw him...

“No, no need for that. I’m fine, really.” He looked down into his cereal bowl as if the answers for getting out of this conversation were hidden there. Cereal stared back at him, offering absolutely no help at all.

“Are you sure, Danny? I know you don’t like doctors but I think it would be best to see one. It could really help you,” his mom said. Oh, great. His mom was getting in on the action too. Awesome. 

“I’m not-”

“You know,” Jazz interrupted loudly. Danny instantly relaxed into his seat. “I’ve been learning some interesting things about sleep and the psychology behind it in my studies. I might be able to help you with it myself.” His older sister looked over and gave him a sly smile which he returned. It really did mean a lot to him to have his sister in his corner. This year had certainly been harder with her away at college. Their dad gave a deep laugh.

“That’s my girl!”

“Thanks, dad. A-anyway, oh wow, would you look at the time! 8 already. Come on, Danny. I’ll drive you to school,” Jazz said. She grabbed Danny by the shirt and practically dragged him out of his chair to the front door. He quickly shoved his shoes on, grabbed his backpack and walked out the door. Jazz grabbed his backpack from behind, pulling Danny back inside. If his reflexes were any slower he would have fallen over. The teen spun around quickly to face his sister.

“What the hell was that for?” he asked. Jazz narrowed her eyes at him and shoved his jacket into his arms.

“You can’t just go outside without a jacket on when it’s below freezing,” Jazz hissed. Oh, right. Danny sheepishly put his jacket on.

“Thanks.” In Danny’s defense, he barely noticed the cold anymore. The more powerful his cold core became (and the more he accessed it), the less frigid temperatures affected him even in human form. He crawled into the passenger seat of Jazz’s car and waited for her to start the engine.

“So. What is it that you want to talk about?” he asked. The halfa wasn’t stupid; Jazz knew that Danny could fly to school faster than she could drive. The only reason why she would offer him a ride would be to talk to him in privacy, away from their parents.

“When are you planning on telling them?” Of course she’d go right at it. The two had argued about telling their parents about Danny being half ghost before Jazz left for college, and again when she came home for Thanksgiving. She had always had the point of view that he should tell them the truth, but with her leaving her brother behind she had pushed much harder for him to come clean. 

“Jazz… Come on, it’s too early for this.”

“You’ve at least thought about it, right?”

“Nope, not at all. _Of course_ I have! What, you really think I don’t listen to you?”

“I didn’t say that, Danny. Don’t twist my words to derail the conversation.”

“God you’re annoying. Can’t believe I thought I missed you,” Danny mumbled.

“Aw, you missed me,” Jazz teased.

“I _thought_ I missed you. I was mistaken,” he corrected. He crossed his arms but then gave a sigh. The teenager looked out the passenger window.

“Yeah, yeah I have thought about it. I think I will once I graduate,” he said. Jazz finished her left hand turn and then turned to her brother.

“That far away? Even if I wasn’t away at college, you think you can keep them from finding out until then?”

“Hey, I’ve already done three years. What’s another couple of months? It’s not like waiting is gonna kill me,” Danny said. He gave his sister a stupid grin. She rolled her eyes at him.

“I swear to god. But Danny, you’re getting sloppy. I mean, only the other day I caught you phasing your hand through the fridge.”

“I was pretty sure mom and dad weren’t there, and I was right.”

“And if you were wrong?” Danny didn’t reply. Jazz sighed. “And forgetting your jacket today.”

“That’s just a little thing.”

“And it’s all of the little things together that’s going to reveal you, Danny. I’m only saying this because I love you and I want you to be able to tell mom and dad on your own terms,” Jazz explained. She reached for Danny’s hand and gave it a squeeze. He squeezed back. She rolled the car into the school parking lot and put it into park.

“Wish me luck that I don’t have to deal with any ghosts today,” Danny said. Jazz smiled.

“Knock ‘em dead.”

* * *

Of course, _of freaking course_ the day that Sam is home sick and unable to take notes for him in English is the day that Cujo loses his shit with the mailman. They weren’t in the same class, but maybe he could use Tucker’s notes. Maybe. 

Probably not, considering they had different teachers and were reading different Shakespeare plays. 

After slipping away to the bathroom to transform, Danny flew after Cujo and the postal truck. This was probably Cujo’s way of saying that he missed Danny and needed more attention. The halfa sighed and filed that information in the back of his head for later. Who knew that undead dogs would be such a big responsibility? This was probably why Danny’s parents never got him a dog. That and the abundance of dangerous ghost hunting equipment that littered almost every square inch of their house. 

The teen followed the chase to the post office and felt his stomach drop. Standing at the entrance, blaster pointed, was his mother. Her fierce purple eyes were trained right at Cujo, ready to strike. Danny yelled for Cujo to stop but was either too far away or not assertive enough because Cujo only continued his full out sprint at his mother. Danny watched his mom fire her blaster, hitting Cujo’s leg and causing him to trip. The teen used this chance to zip down and grab the dog by his collar.

“Cujo, no!” The dog whined in response. 

“She’ll hurt you even more. I know she smells like me but she’s not safe,” Danny whispered to the dog. The ghost dog looked down in submission and transformed into his small, cute self. Danny crouched to match the ghost’s new height and began to pet him while keeping an eye on the huntress in front of him. He wasn’t about to give her a chance to ‘capture that Phantom menace’. He cleared his throat and took out his thermos, letting the dog see it.

“Alright, boy. Are you gonna go back to the Ghost Zone on your own or do I have to use the thermos?” he asked. Cujo gave Danny a lick and then flew away, his tail wagging happily. The teen then stood up and gave his mom a weak wave. He didn’t want to spend any more time around her as Phantom than he had to. Being captured would not be good for his already abysmal attendance record. It’s not like he could say ‘oh, sorry for being late. I was trapped in a _thermos_ ’. He began to fly away when her voice made him pause.

“What did you mean when you said that I ‘smell’ like you?” she asked. Danny winced. She heard that? How the hell did she hear him? Probably some stupid ‘ghost hearing aid’ or some other bullshit. He really needed to pay more attention to his parents when they were telling him about their inventions, especially since Jazz wasn’t normally around.

“You didn’t hear that,” Danny replied. Wow, smart. Good thinking, Phantom.

“Yes I did.”

“Uh, don’t worry about it. It’s cause uh, you, uh, you work beside a ghost portal. Ghost... smell. Alright uh, later!” The ghost turned invisible as he jumped up into the air and flew back to the school. He smacked his face with his hand. _Idiot!_ That didn’t go very well for him. At least it was just Cujo this time. Plus, since his mom was at the post office there was practically no collateral damage this time! Gotta look at the bright side, right? And it was fairly quick. Maybe he could catch the last half of his English class.

* * *

Other than being told to see Mr. Lancer at his office after school, the rest of the school day passed without incident. He only fell asleep in one of his classes and managed to avoid Dash. Overall, not an awful school day. Plus, having study hall with Tucker for last period was a huge bonus. The two sat down at ‘their’ table in the library and took out their books.

“Alright, dude. So forget bio. What are you getting Sam for Christmas?” Tucker asked. Danny leaned back on his chair, tilting it so it was only on its back legs, and sighed.

“I dunno, man. Like, I want to get her something that’s cool, but thoughtful, and less than $30,” he moaned. Tucker waggled his eyebrows.

“Thirty bucks, huh? _Someone’s_ a big spender.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“What? Are you planning on spending that much on me?” Tucker teased. Danny felt his face flush and he looked away.

“You know, if you aren’t going to help we might as well actually study.”

“Fenton! Sit in your chair properly! You’ll lose your balance and crack your skull open,” the librarian’s aide reprimanded from her desk. She was a short junior with long black hair and a permanent frown. The aide used position to flex her authority to it’s very limit.

“Aren’t you not supposed to raise your voice in a library?” Danny asked. He stopped tilting the chair and had it land squarely on all 4 legs.

“You’re on thin ice, Fenton. Don’t give me more of that shit or your dead,” she warned.

“Way ahead of you there,” he mumbled. Tucker snickered. He then looked down at his phone and frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Someone on twitter just posted that they think they saw the Box Ghost at the mall,” he said quietly. Danny groaned.

“The _Box Ghost_?”

“Hey, maybe while you’re at the mall you can find something for Sam!” Tucker teased. Danny just flipped the bird in response to his best friend and left.

* * *

Danny spotted the Box Ghost almost immediately when he arrived at the mall. In the main concourse was Technus half surrounded a shell of electronics, gloating to the masses about something or rather. On the ground was the Box Ghost, lending his box-telekinesis abilities to Technus. Danny narrowed his eyes. Oh, of course the Box Ghost could move shit with just a gentle push of concentration. But could Danny so much as move a pencil? Nooo. With his right hand pointed like a gun he fired a quick shot at the Box Ghost and sucked him into the thermos. That was one down. 

A sudden flash of movement caught Danny’s attention. Someone was running from store to store, closing the doors. Huh, making it harder for Technus to have access to electronics, that was clever. Danny narrowed his eyes. Wait, was that his mom?! What was she doing here? He turned to Technus. Well, he’d better distract him before Technus went for her. He powered up an ecto blast and fired it at him.

“Sorry, I’m going to have to cut your Christmas shopping short,” he said with a grin. The other ghost glared at him. Danny felt the air begin to charge with electricity.

“Of course it would be the halfa child,” Technus groaned.

“Hey, I’m almost a legal adult, I’ll have you know,” Danny quipped. He then grabbed his head and shook it. Whoa, why did that feel so strange? “Déjà vu,” he muttered.

“I’m going to make you legally _dead_ ,” Technus cried. He threw an electrified ecto blast at Danny who smiled, dodging it easily. Oh yeah, he could have some fun here. Danny easily avoided most of Technus’ attacks and used his ectoshield to absorb the others. The halfa focused his core and extended it outwards, freezing the electronics that Technus surrounded himself with. His eyes widened seeing the various phones and game systems and cameras start to fall off of him.

“Why you-!”

“Better luck next time, Technus,” Danny said. He gave the ghost a solid cryo-enhanced punch, throwing him across the mall and into a beam. He then took out his thermos and captured him in its bright light. Perfect, now that that was dealt with he could make his way back to school in time to see Lancer and-

“Phantom,” his mom’s voice called. He bit his lip. Shit, he had forgotten about her. The halfa floated down to her, keeping a respectable distance from her.

“Uh, Maddie. Thanks for the help there. That was smart thinking, closing off the stores,” he said. She crossed her arms and looked at him, hard. He shivered.

“Is uh, is there something I can-”

“Are you responsible for this?” she asked. Danny tilted his head.

“Huh? No, did you miss Technus and the Box Ghost?” he asked. But she just shook her head. 

“No, of course you aren’t. Your actions don’t quite match if you were,” she said, mostly to herself. Danny moved backwards. Whatever it was that his mom thought he did or didn’t do, he wasn’t so sure he wanted to stick around and find out.

“I’ll be going now. See you next time,” Danny said. Just like he did that morning he turned himself invisible and flew away from the mall. He had enough time to make it back to the school and not be late. It was weirdly lucky that he was able to wrap up that fight just in time, but he wasn’t about to complain. Something something don’t look at a horse’s mouth.

The teenager arrived at Lancer's office right on time and took a seat next to his mother. She took a deep breath and sighed.

“So,” Mr. Lancer started, “it’s almost the end of term and Daniel has already accumulated twelve absences from my class alone.” Danny slunk into his seat. Great, he already didn’t want to be here. His core buzzed, tempting him to disappear. He stayed firmly visible, as much as he didn’t want to be. He stole a glance at his mom who looked disappointed, but not surprised.

“So, what does this mean for Danny?” she asked. The teen decided to focus on breathing, raising his chest and lowering it at normal intervals. Lately, every once in a while he would catch himself not breathing in human form. He needed to fix that. Danny mostly tuned out his mom and teacher talking, when Mr. Lancer dropped a bomb: he might not have a chance for graduation. Danny immediately sat up in his chair.

“Graduation? What, you mean I might not graduate?!” Danny cried. He looked between his teacher and his mom. He couldn’t _not_ graduate. No, no this was not happening.

“That is exactly what I mean, Mr. Fenton. Your assignments are often incomplete or simply not handed in at all. When you actually complete your work you do show promise. I need to see actual completed assignments. Due to your poor attendance, you need to achieve at least a C+ average to be eligible for graduation,” Lancer explained. Danny sunk back into his chair. It wasn’t _his_ fault that he constantly had to fight ghosts. Well, maybe he did turn on the portal but he thought that, you know, _dying_ was a big enough punishment.

“If these absences can be explained, however,” Lancer said, cuing Danny to explain himself.

Danny stayed dead silent. His mother sighed.

“So you mentioned a learning plan?” his mom prompted. Lancer repositioned himself in his chair. 

“Yes, of course. I’m suggesting that Daniel comes to my office for lunch three times a week and uses the lunch hour to complete his school work or study. He would be under my supervision, of course. Mrs. Fenton, I’m hoping that you could-”

“Watch Danny do homework and study twice a week? I was actually just thinking about that. I think that would be an excellent learning plan,” she said. Danny panicked. What if a ghost attacked during one of these sessions? Knowing him, more like what would he do _when_ a ghost attacked during one of those sessions? He couldn’t leave people in danger. What if someone got hurt? Valerie couldn’t always pick up the slack as the Red Huntress. Plus, wouldn’t someone begin to notice that Phantom wasn’t around when Fenton was being watched by Lancer?

“You can’t be serious!” Danny said. Lancer raised his eyebrow.

“I most certainly am. Clearly you aren’t doing your school work when left to your own devices. This way we can ensure that you spend at least a couple hours a week on it.”

“I don’t need to be babysat,” Danny mumbled.

“Anyway, if we are all in agreement, _Danny_ , then let’s sign the learning plan and we can all go home,” Maddie said. Danny stood up, scribbled his signature, and grabbed his backpack.

“Can we go now?” Danny moaned. As soon as his mom nodded Danny stormed out of the classroom. Shit, how was he going to get out of this and still graduate? He knew this wouldn’t be a great meeting but he had no idea that it was going to be this shit. He could practically hear Jazz’s voice saying ‘this wouldn’t be happening if you told mom and dad’. 

Duplicates. Danny would have to practice and get way better at making a duplicate that lasted more than 10 minutes. He’d have to just throw out his plans on telekinesis for now. At least he already could make a duplicate. Most of the time. He made his way to the GAV and paused. He vaguely remembered his parents mentioning something about the GAV Spectral Deflector. Were they just talking about how to make it better, or were they now actually using it?

“Danny?” 

“Mom, uh, is the Spectral Deflector on?” he asked. 

“N-no,” she said. Danny missed the look of confusion on her face and crawled into the van. He buckled up and prepared for another super exciting conversation, this time in a vehicle! Fun!

“Danny,” his mom started. She took a deep breath and started the engine. “Danny, I love you. I love you so, so much. You’re a good kid. You’re a smart kid. I don’t know what’s going on with you. I want to, but I want you to _want_ to tell me.”

Danny said nothing and looked out the window. God, he could hear the hurt in his mom’s voice. He hated this. He’d take yelling over knowing that he was hurting her, disappointing her. He couldn’t tell her the truth. Not yet. But it was moments like these that made him want to. He wanted to blurt out that wow, guess what mom? I’m half ghost and not just that, I’m Phantom, the ghost you’ve proclaimed is public enemy number one. Check it out, I can shove my arm through the glove box!

But he said nothing. 

“I trust you, I really do. But I also think that you need a bit of help, a bit of a push I guess, to make sure you graduate. I’m here to help you, Danny. And I’ll help you in any way that you need me to, which includes supervising your homework twice a week.” Danny sighed. She was trying so hard. He could feel his heart squeezing.

“I, I know, mom. I’m sorry.”

His mom placed her hand on Danny’s. He flinched at the sudden contact, but put his hand back, letting his mom give it a squeeze.

“I love you, Danny.”

“I love you too, mom.”

* * *

After dinner Danny reluctantly dragged himself to the lab and worked on his history homework while surrounded by dozens of weapons that could tear him apart. What a fun and enriching learning environment. As much as Danny didn’t want to admit it though, he did end up actually finishing his history homework. He couldn’t help but overhear his parents talking about what they were working on, despite their whispers. He couldn’t quite figure out though why finding a matching ecto signature required such secrecy though. Whatever. Hopefully they weren’t talking about his.

By 9:30 his parents let him leave the lab. Danny ran up the stairs to his room and slammed his door shut.

“Danny! Don’t slam your door!” Jazz yelled through the wall. He transformed into Phantom and phased through the wall into his sister’s room. She jumped slightly but crossed her arms and pouted, trying to cover up being startled.

“Don’t _do_ that,” she reprimanded. Danny laughed, his voice faintly echoing.

“You’ve been away for so long! I have a lot of catch up to do,” he said as he floated into her room, slowly rolling upside-down. 

“Ugh, Danny you are so annoying!”

“That’s my job as your little bro-ther~!”

“Could you not? I’m trying to do my work here,” Jazz complained. Danny paused mid air and looked over Jazz’s shoulder at her laptop. He frowned.

“Ew, research.”

“You sure you don’t want to join in on my fun?”

“I’d rather die, thanks.”

“Ha ha. Good luck with your patrol,” Jazz said. Danny gave a mock salute and left his sister, disappearing into the night. It was clear out. He could see a few of the stars in the Amity Park sky. The teenager made his normal route around Amity Park, flying close to his top speed. There was nothing that felt quite as free as feeling the wind against him while he flew through the skies. His core buzzed at a high frequency in joy. It was a type of bliss. The world just fell away from him and all that was left was Danny at that very moment.

As much as his life sucked sometimes he wouldn’t trade flying for anything.

After a half hour of flying through the town without his ghost sense going off, Danny returned to Fentonworks. He sat on top of the OPs Center, staring up at the stars above him. Since before Danny could remember the stars had always captured him. They were so beautiful. A constant fixture in the night sky and his life as a whole. He wondered, not for the first time, if he could survive in space as a ghost. It was something he wanted to try in his lifetime. Er, afterlife-time?

Danny knew he should be working on his duplicates. He would… just, a little later. They didn’t always get such clear skies.

After a few minutes the teen felt something tugging at his core. A new sensation, and not something he was very pleased about. A bright light surrounded Danny, blinding him. His body began to feel as if it was being sucked in on itself, but Danny couldn’t move. Instead he felt himself stretched and his entire being sucked into itself. For just a second pain exploded within him and then-

Danny opened his eyes and found himself in the basement staring at his mother, armed to the nines with a scowl on her face. Beside her lay his father, unconscious. Panic shot through Danny.

“Da-Jack! Wh-what happened to him?!” Danny began to reach his hand. It was met with some sort of invisible ghost-proof wall that gave him a small shock. Danny flinched and his hand immediately came back to his side. It wasn’t injured, just painful. He then noticed that he was surrounded by tall green poles supporting a roof like structure that hummed ectoplasm. He was in the Fenton Ghost Cage. Shit.

“Jack said we might need another person to help with summoning, that two people wouldn’t be a strong enough conduit, but I didn’t want to bring anyone else into my mess. I don’t have the time to find a third. He’ll be alright,” Maddie explained. Though for Danny it only begot more questions than answers.

“Summoned?”

“We performed the ritual to summon the Ghost King. I’m surprised to say though, I’m a little relieved it failed and brought you instead, Phantom.” Danny’s jaw fell on the floor and he took a step back.

“The Ghost Ki- you meant to summon _Pariah Dark_!? While your family is home?”

“Don’t you dare try to lecture me, Phantom. You’ll notice that you’re in our Ghost Cage. Nothing ghostly can get in or out. Besides, there’s only two hours left in the day.”

“Two hours?” Danny furrowed his brows. What was she talking about? What was going on?

“What, uh, what do you want from me?” he asked. His mom brushed her fingers through her hair.

“Right, right. Alright. Originally, I was going to have the Ghost King himself tell me what’s going on or break the loop. Since I have you instead though, I’d like you to take me to a ghost who _can_.”

“Okay first of all? Not a fan of you basically telling me that I’m useless. Not a great way to convince me to help you out here. But putting that all aside; help you with _what_? What is going on?” Danny asked. His mom pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath.

“I’m… I’m stuck in a time loop. I keep on reliving today. This is the third time. I’ve spent yesterday and today doing tests to determine that whatever it is that’s doing this is ghostly in origin. I have… almost like threads attached to me. I’m unable to cut them. We’re unable to get a stable enough sample to match the ecto signature. I need answers.” Danny shifted.

“That’s uh. Wow. That fucking sucks.”

“Language!” Danny winced. 

“Sorry m-Maddie. But this is time related or whatever, right? So I think I know exactly who would know what’s going on,” Danny said with a grin. The scientist narrowed her eyes, locking eye contact with Danny. He bit his lip. They stayed like that for a few moments before his mom sighed.

“I already know this is a mistake, but what other choice do I have, really? I’ll trust you, Phantom. Don’t make me regret it.” She pressed a button and the green poles surrounding Danny dropped into the ground. Tentatively, he moved forward. There was no resistance, no shock. He sighed in relief. 

“Thanks. Alright, uh, we’ll have to go through the Ghost Zone, so we’ll need the Spectral Speeder,” Danny explained. The halfa quickly opened the ghost portal and then floated over to where it was parked and opened the driver’s side door. His mom shook her head.

“Nuh-uh, no. You are not driving. Out,” she barked. Danny frowned and crossed his arms. 

“Yeah, I am. You don’t know the Ghost Zone well at all, I do. Besides, I thought you’d like it better this way. You can keep a blaster pointed at me the whole time or whatever,” Danny said. His mother said nothing but stormed to the passenger’s side. Danny couldn’t help but grin. He quickly started up the Spectral Speeder and put it in drive. 

“Let’s go!” Danny floored it, and the vehicle blasted through the portal and entered the Ghost Zone. Even with his mom pointing a gun at him, going full speed in the speeder through the Ghost Zone was incredibly fun. It was about an hour’s drive (float? hover?) to Clockwork’s lair. He glanced at his mom whose eyes kept on flickering between him and their surroundings. He knew that his parents rarely, if ever, entered the Ghost Zone. It must have been interesting for his mom seeing it like this.

“Over on the right is Ember McLain’s lair. You know, the girl rocker ghost,” Danny said, pointing to it. His mother said nothing in return.

“On the left, you see those trees? That’s the Twisted Forest. You don’t want to get lost there, let me tell you. The plant life isn’t very friendly, to say the least.”

Maddie certainly gave a look but said nothing. Danny rolled his eyes.

“You know,” he said, making a right turn, “it wouldn’t kill you to talk.” At least that got a small scoff from her.

“And you would be an expert in what can kill someone?” she asked lightly. Danny gave a small laugh.

“No, I wouldn’t say that I am.”

“Phantom… What uh, how did you die?”

Danny sucked in a breath. He never expected her to ask him. To ask _Phantom_. To be honest, he was still surprised that she was talking to him. Should he tell her? Would she be able to connect it to the portal? To his human self?

“Sorry, if that’s uh, rude to ask a ghost,” she said. Danny raised his eyebrows.

“An apology? Madeline Fenton, apologizing to a ghost? Never thought I’d see the day,” he teased. 

“You’re helping me out,” she said plainly. Danny took a deep breath. Wow, he was really considering telling her. He licked his lips and gripped the steering wheel tighter.

“It’s interesting that you put so much effort into pretending to act human,” his mom said, taking him out of his thoughts. 

“What do you mean?”

“You take breaths, even though you don’t need to breathe, among other things.” Danny frowned. 

“I do?”

He never really realized he did. Of course that would be the way, wouldn’t it? In ghost form he would ‘breathe’ despite not needing to, and in human form his body would forget to. Just his luck, really. They rode in silence for a few more minutes when his mom spoke up.

“How do you know how to drive?”

“I took driving lessons. How else?” Danny said.

“Who’s teaching a ghost to drive?” His mom asked, an eyebrow raised.

“I learned when I was alive,” he said. It wasn’t technically a lie. He was still alive. Kind of. He could practically hear the gears in his mom’s head turning.

“And your ectoplasmic echo still retains muscle memory despite not driving for years. Fascinating,” she mumbled. A few minutes later they made their way to Clockwork’s lair. Danny got out of the Spectral Speeder and looked up at the turning gears on his tower. His mom followed him out of the vehicle. 

“Here it is,” Danny said weakly. Maddie said nothing. With a sigh, he floated to the door and went to knock when it swung open. Standing there was Clockwork as an old man, holding his staff. 

“Phantom, Mrs. Fenton, welcome,” he said. Danny gave him a silent ‘thank you’ for not calling him Danny and entered his lair, his mom behind him. Clockwork gestured to an open room with three chairs arranged for them. Danny took his seat and watched his mother who very cautiously took her own.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Fenton. I am Clockwork, Overseer of the time stream.”

“There are three chairs,” she stated. Clockwork took his own seat.

“Correct,” he said.

“You knew we were coming.”

“I know everything that has happened and all of that which may come to pass.”

“So then you know why I’m here.”

“Yes, Mrs. Fenton, I do,” Clockwork said. He stood up and walked over to his window for a moment before turning around to face Danny’s mom. “You want to know why you’re trapped in this time loop and how to escape. You have identified the threads of time that have bound you and you’ve also discovered that you are unable to cut these threads with any blade. You want to know how to free yourself from them.”

Danny looked between his mom and Clockwork. He was impressed with how well she was taking everything so far. He just hoped that she wouldn’t try to attack him.

“So let’s stop talking about what it is I do know, and you tell me something new,” his mom demanded. Danny glared at his mom.

“Maddie, come on. Chill. Do you want him to help or not? Be nice,” he chided. Maddie sighed.

“It’s fine, Phantom. But thank you for your consideration. You’ve grown considerably over the years,” Clockwork said, now transformed into a child. Danny slunk into his chair and felt his face flush.

“This ghost magic that’s surrounding you is that of a wish. It is not caused by my hand, though it is adjacent to my abilities.”

“A wish? What wish?” Maddie asked.

“The wish that you made yourself, Mrs. Fenton.”

“I don’t remember making any wish, ghost.”

“Remember or not, you are the one who said the wish aloud. Fortunately or unfortunately for you, it has been granted. Until you have fulfilled it you will continue to relive the day,” Clockwork explained. 

“Can’t you break it if it’s time based?” Danny asked. Clockwork raised his eyebrows.

“Can? If I felt it necessary, then yes, I would. But as it is not my wish nor my doing, I see it best to let it play out.”

“What is it that I wished for?”

“That, I cannot say. I am only here to help guide you to the truth. You are the only one who can uncover it,” Clockwork said. “I will say though that it is, however, related to young Phantom here.”

Danny felt his heart stop. Oh no. He turned to Clockwork with wide eyes. He didn’t mean _that_ , did he? The ghost nodded at him.

“It is the only way she can escape the loop,” he said. Maddie stood up, knocking over her chair.

“What do you mean? How are you involved, Phantom?” Danny leaned away from her.

“Uh-”

“You are the one who involved him, Mrs. Fenton. It was your wish, after all, that has placed you in such a situation. The key to your escape is to understand exactly why it is that Phantom is so intertwined in your life. Until you discover that yourself, you will continue to repeat the day. In that sense it is your fault that Phantom is also in this loop, although unaware of it. This, and him being a ghost, therefore partially adjacent to reality, are the reasons why he is experiencing what you call ‘déjà vu’. I’m sure you’ve already noticed this.”

“No one else has experienced déjà vu…” she muttered to herself.

Danny bit his lip. He didn’t want his mom to be in this loop. He didn’t want to reveal himself to her, but if this was the only way to save her, if what Clockwork was saying was true then she would find out ‘today’, no matter what.

“Maddie, I-” Danny suddenly found himself unable to speak. His mouth felt as if it was glued shut. He looked at the other ghost with wide eyes.

“Don’t fret. It is the wish that is preventing you from saying it. She must find the answer herself, not have it given to her,” Clockwork warned. Danny frowned. 

“You know how to break it,” his mom whispered. Danny nodded.

“Yes.”

“Time is almost up,” the ghost warned.

“Can you help me?” his mom asked, fear seeping in her voice.

“Yes. I… I’ll need to know to trust you. But if you ask me, I will answer your questions.”

“How will I get your trust?” Maddie asked. Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“In a way, you already have it. But you asked before, about how I died? It was an accident. I was electrocuted.”

“Electrocuted? How?”

The clock struck midnight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things. I actually really do like Sam, but I wasn't quite sure how I would incorporate her into this fic/how I would write her. I'm sorry, Sam! Maybe next fic?  
> Also, I know that there's one (literally only one) scene of Danny using telekinesis in the show but it's season 3. And uhhhhh.... yeah lets just pretend that never happened :^)
> 
> in the google doc one of the notes in this chapter is 'insert duel of the fates here'


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaaand back to Maddie's POV for the rest of the fic~!

Maddie’s eyes flew open with a gasp. No longer was she in the slightly cold and very unsettling lair of a very powerful ghost. She was lying in her bed, Jack softly snoring beside her. She looked at the clock beside her: 06:01. She stopped a scream from escaping her and took a deep breath. Losing her shit right now wouldn’t help her. She rolled out of bed and began to go through the motions of her morning routine. Her conversation with that time ghost yesterday had been eye-opening, to say the least. Somehow, _somehow_ , the way to get out of this hell lay with understanding Phantom. What wish had she made about Phantom, though? She couldn’t think of anything. Maybe she said that she wished she knew why he seemed to be aging? She just couldn’t remember it. The memory wouldn’t appear. The scientist shook her head. She was going to figure it out, and she was going to figure it out _today_. Which meant that tomorrow would be Friday, so she had to finish that stupid grant renewal. For the third time.

Maddie made her way down the stairs to the basement and got started on the application. She wouldn’t be able to properly plan just how she would get more information from Phantom if she still had this silly grant looming over her. With an intense fervor she quickly completed the grant, just in time to hear Jack’s footsteps with her coffee. She glanced at the computer: 07:04, right on time. 

“Why, thank you, Jack,” she said, turning to her husband. He smiled and gave her the mug of coffee. Maddie took a long sip and then sighed. The grant was done and caffeine would certainly help her brainstorm, but she needed her partner. 

“Jack,” she began, “there’s something I need to tell you that’s a little hard to believe.”

* * *

Maddie made her way to the post office with the completed grant application, a Ghost Net, her blaster, her Ecto-Sword, and dog treats. The dog treats were actually Jack’s idea; the ghost dog never seemed to be malicious, certainly it would respond well to dog treats. Maddie shrugged. It wasn’t a _bad_ idea. Besides, Phantom seemed to be pretty fond of the dog. If she won over the dog, perhaps Phantom would also be more receptive to her questioning.

Not interrogating. Questioning.

Maddie first dropped off the grant and then sat outside of the post office. She looked down at her watch. They should be here right about…

Now.

Maddie looked up to see the ghost dog racing towards her and Phantom’s form behind him. The huntress stood up with an out stretch hand, dog treats in the other. She caught the dog’s eyes.

“Stop!” she called. The ghost dog immediately pushed out his legs to slow himself down, sliding right towards her. It came to a complete stop right before her and looked down at her expectantly. Maddie couldn’t help but smile. She threw a treat at the dog who snapped it midair.

“Good boy. Lie down,” she commanded. It lay down, tail wagging in anticipation. Maddie threw another treat which he caught easily.

“Good boy,” she said softly. The ghost dog transformed back to its puppy form. His tongue stuck out. She had to admit; he was pretty cute. Phantom landed down beside them and looked at them with confusion. 

“Uh, good, uh, good job with Cujo,” he said. Maddie smirked.

“Dogs aren’t too hard to manage as long as you have treats,” she said. The ghost boy tilted his head.

“We have dog treats?”

“What?”

“N-nothing, sorry. Uh, yeah. I guess I’ll take this little guy back to the Ghost Zone then,” he said, scratching his neck. Maddie crossed her arms.

“You can tell him to go back himself, right?”

“Uh, yeah. I can. Uhm, Cujo? Boy? Yeah, good boy. Listen, can you go back to the Ghost Zone yourself?” The ghost dog gave an affirmative bark and ran off, leaving Maddie and Phantom behind. 

“Alright, Phantom. I need to talk to you. Now as much as I think I’m being an idiot, I trust you and I’d rather talk to you freely. But I also have my Ghost Net. So how are we going to do it?” Maddie asked. Mild panic flashed on Phantom’s face, but he quickly masked it.

“Uh, what about? Can we talk a bit later today? I kind of have something I need to do right now, but I should be fine after like, 3pm,” he said. Maddie raised an eyebrow. What could a ghost need to do? Though perhaps he did have to go to the Ghost Zone to make sure the dog returned.

“Alright. But it would have to be after 5pm. I have an appointment this afternoon with my son’s teacher. Apparently there’s a chance Danny won’t be able to graduate this year,” she said with a sigh. It was just getting so annoying, having to do this conversation over and over again. The huntress didn’t notice Phantom’s jaw hit the ground.

“Wh-what?! Might not graduate?!” Phantom was shocked. Maddie frowned. She knew that her kids liked Phantom and thought him a hero, but she hadn’t known that Phantom seemed close enough to Danny to care about his schooling. Interesting.

“I’m not quite sure why you care so much, but yeah. He’s had so many absences this year that if he doesn’t improve his grades there’s a chance he won’t be eligible to graduate. It’s just so frustrating. He’s a good kid, you know? I know he is. But I have no idea what’s going on with him. Oh, uh, I didn’t mean to ramble on about this,” Maddie said. She had no idea why she suddenly started telling Phantom her concerns about Danny. He seemed concerned on her behalf, but nodded.

“Don’t uh, don’t worry about it. I’ll see you on the roof of your place at 5:30, maybe?” the ghost suggested. Maddie nodded.

“Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll see you later,” she said with a smile. He didn’t know that ‘later’ would actually be at the mall in a few hours. She watched him fly away and turned back to the post office to pick up her package.

* * *

Maddie returned home from the post office just in time to see Jazz about to leave for probably the library. She felt bad; throughout all of these Thursdays she hadn’t spent much time at all with her daughter. Jazz might not know that, but Maddie did.

“Jazz?”

“Yeah mom?”

“I know you’re about to leave but, do you mind having some tea with me first? I feel like I haven’t properly talked with you in a while,” Maddie said. Her daughter paused, looking at the door and then to her mom. To Maddie’s relief, Jazz smiled and gave a nod. The two walked to the kitchen and Maddie put on the kettle. 

“What’s up, mom?” Jazz asked. Maddie gave a deep exhale and placed the tin of tea on the counter.

“I’m so happy you’re home, now. To be honest sweetie, I’ve missed you. I don’t know what happened, but I turned around and suddenly you and your brother have grown up,” Maddie said. Jazz gave a smile and placed a hand on her mom’s. 

“It must be hard, letting go,” she said. 

“You have no idea.” Maddie took down two mugs for them and dropped in their tea bags. “Sit down, sweetie, I’ve got this.”

“Remember when Danny mistook dad’s coffee for hot chocolate?” Jazz asked. Maddie grinned.

“Yes! Oh, his little face when he took that sip. He looked so betrayed! The poor thing. How old was he? Seven? Eight?”

“I think he was seven.”

“Right. Oh, and then he started to cry. So we started to laugh and then he cried even harder! I felt so bad but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. It was just so ridiculous,” Maddie said with a laugh. Jazz giggled with her mom. Maddie poured hot water into their mugs and placed them on the table before sitting down herself.

“He was so much more open back then,” Maddie said softly.

“He’s a teenager. He’s supposed to be closed off.”

“I know. You’ve said before. But I worry that I’ve made a mistake, that somewhere along the way I’ve done something to push him away from me,” she lamented. She then rolled her head back. “And today I’ll be going in to have a meeting with Mr. Lancer about how there’s a chance he might not be able to graduate.”

“Danny might not graduate?!” Jazz cried. Maddie nodded in response and took a sip of her tea. Her daughter stared into her’s and frowned. 

“He really told you that over the phone? That doesn’t sound like him at all,” Jazz mused. Her mother sighed. What if she told her daughter the truth as well? She didn’t want to give her too much stress, but perhaps her daughter could give her some insights. She did seem to take extensive interest in Phantom.

“He didn’t. Jazz, I have something to tell you but I’m not sure you’ll quite believe me,” she started. Jazz froze but kept a calm look on her face.

“You might be surprised what I’m willing to believe.”

“We’ll see. Jasmine, I’m… I’m stuck in a time loop.” Maddie gave her daughter a moment to take in the information.

“A… time loop? Like the Bill Murray movie?”

“Yes, exactly. This is the fourth time I’ve lived through this Thursday, but the first time telling you. I spent last night finding out why. From what I understand, I made some sort of wish that I don’t remember making. Until I fulfill it, I’ll be stuck reliving the day.”

“Do you… know what the wish is?”

“Not quite. We went to this clock ghost who refused to fix it, even though from the sounds of it he would be able to. He said that no one else can answer, that I have to figure it out myself. So incredibly annoying,” Maddie complained. 

“You said ‘we’? Did dad go with you?”

“No, he fell unconscious. We had originally tried to summon the Ghost King, have him tell us how to fix this, but the intensity of the ritual was too much between just two people. But instead we somehow summoned Phantom instead.” Jazz spat her tea into her cup.

“You tried to summon the Ghost King and summoned _Phantom_?!”

“I know, incredibly annoying. I’m still not sure what we did wrong, but I don’t have the time for that right now. It was fortunate that we got him though. According to the clock ghost, the ‘answer’ that I seek is related to him. He knows exactly what it is, apparently, but was literally physically unable to tell me. Figures,” Maddie said. She looked up from her tea to see an entire range of emotions flash on her daughter’s face. Jazz settled on a guarded expression which confused Maddie. What was she thinking?

“Let me get this straight. You made a wish, and that wish has put you in this time loop. You will be stuck in this time loop until you discover something that has to do with Phantom. Is that right?”

“That’s right.”

“I… shit,” Jazz sighed. She placed her head in her hands. Maddie got a sinking feeling.

“Jazz?”

“Mom. I… I’m pretty sure I know what it is.” Maddie leaned forward. What was it that her daughter knew? And how did she know what it was immediately? Was it something obvious? What was Maddie missing? Instead she stayed silent and waited for her daughter to continue.

“But… How to put it, uh, Clockwork didn’t quite tell you everything. Yes, Phantom is related, but Danny is as well.”

“Wait, how is Danny related?” Maddie asked. Jazz took a sip of tea and paused for a moment. She did this often when she needed to collect her thoughts. 

“That’s not really something I can tell you. He might not be directly related to your wish. I don’t know what your wish was, to be honest. But he is related. My best advice would be… well. You’re a scientist, aren’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Then use the scientific method. You need to stop working on assumptions. Don’t take anything you haven’t proven as fact. If something doesn’t fit the way you think it does, then it could mean that your hypothesis is wrong,” Jazz explained. She sat back into her chair, letting Maddie mull over her words.

“I need to go now, mom. But… think on my words? And don’t be hard on Phantom when you talk to him. Or Danny.” With that Jazz got up and left for the library, leaving Maddie surrounded with her thoughts. 

Why was it that the more she learned, the more questions she had? What the hell was going on?

* * *

After having the same conversation with Mr. Lancer and Danny for the fourth time, Maddie got home and waited for her meeting time with Phantom. Before she was ready, however, it was time. Maddie felt her heart thumping in her chest as she climbed the stairs to the roof. She hated feeling this way. Weak, ignorant, confused. She could only hope that talking to Phantom would give her some answers. If any. 

If he was even there.

Maddie placed her hand on the door handle and paused. Come on, Maddie. Get it together. Her intestines were in knots. Her heart was in her throat. She opened the door.

Floating there was Phantom, glowing softly in the night. He turned to her and gave a sheepish smile.

“Hello,” he said timidly. Maddie walked over to the ghost and leaned on the railing next to him. He picked up his legs into a sitting position while floating. 

“Hello, Phantom. I must admit, I wasn’t sure if you would come,” she said. Phantom scratched his neck.

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I should come,” he said with a laugh. Maddie nodded and looked out at the neighbourhood below them.

“I need some answers, Phantom. I’ve been living this day multiple times already. I’m in a time loop.”

“A time loop?” Phantom placed his hand on his chin, similar to what Danny would do when he was in thought.

“I’ve already gone with you to see that clock ghost. He said that this is because of some wish that I made that I don’t remember making. The wish has something to do with you,” Maddie explained. Phantom bit his lip. Maddie could see that he already had an idea of what it was she was missing. The scientist gave a sigh.

“Unfortunately, for some reason you’re physically unable to tell me. I have to find out myself,” Maddie lamented. Phantom was visibly fidgeting. 

“You uh, you sure?” he asked. Maddie turned to him and looked straight into his toxic green eyes.

“You wanted to trust me, so you told me how you died. That it was electrocution. Somehow this will help me learn whatever it is that you and Jazz know,” Maddie explained. The ghost paused.

“I-I told you about my death? Not Jazz?” Maddie felt her heart stop. 

“...why does Jazz know how you died?” Phantom flinched. Clearly he hadn’t meant to implicate her. She steeled her emotions. “Phantom. Tell me.”

“I… I told her. I mean, she kinda demanded that I tell her.”

“When did you tell her? Was this recently?” she asked. Phantom gave a quick laugh. 

“Oh, nooo no no no. She found out during the first year,” he said.

“First year of what?”

“...Of uh. Of being a ghost.” Phantom bit his lip and looked around, clearly uncomfortable. Maddie was lucky that he hadn’t yet left, but she couldn’t help but feel the need to push it. There was a feeling that she was getting close. She still wasn’t sure what it was that she was getting closer to.

“How long have you been a ghost?” 

“Three years now. Entering my fourth.” Maddie paused. Three years? That meant…

“When we first saw you in Amity Park. You had just died?”

“Y-yeah.”

“You were _that_ powerful as a new ghost?!” Maddie was flabbergasted. Normally it took years for ghosts to accumulate even enough strength to keep a stable form outside of the Ghost Zone for extended periods. But if Phantom was telling the truth, then his ectoplasm was already strong enough and stable enough to survive in their world right from the get go. But, how?

She was still missing something.

“Who were you? Did I know you when you were alive?” she asked. The ghost in front of her began to visibly panic. He floated away from her, the distance growing with each second before he vanished entirely to god knows where. For some reason that she didn’t know why, Maddie was left with an overwhelming sadness. A thread broke and somewhere, deep in her heart, was the knowledge that Maddie had known whoever it was that Phantom was before.

She was surprised to find a few tears in her eyes. She wiped them away and made her way back into the house. Dinner wasn’t about to make itself, after all. In a daze she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. She quickly put some water in a pot to boil.

She had known Phantom when he was alive.

The thought haunted her. She couldn’t help but feel numb while she poured the spaghetti into the boiling water. How close had she been with him? He looked the same age as her kids. Did they know him? Had they been friends with him? Had that he been in her house when he was alive, one of the many children over the years that she had fed?

How had she not realized that a child had died?

Her thoughts were a storm all throughout dinner. Someone asked her, maybe Danny, if she was alright during dinner. She answered that she was fine and absently had another mouthful of spaghetti.

She was not fine.

After dinner she must have asked Danny to come downstairs to study, as he was sitting at one of the workstations, but she did not remember doing so. The idea that she had known Phantom had possessed her. Without quite knowing how, Maddie found herself in front of her computer searching up obituaries from three to four years ago. Her eyes scanned through the names and ages, taking note of anyone who was between the ages of ten and seventeen. Once she had her list of 59 children she looked at their cause of death.

Cancer, drowning, car accident, traumatic brain injury, fire. All terrible deaths, all tragedies. But none of them, not a single child on her list had died by electrocution. Maddie leaned back in her chair. It didn’t make sense. The echoes of ghosts created in their world and not the Ghost Zone began to form mere moments after they died. Phantom couldn’t have died in any other time period. He said that he had been a ghost for three years. She didn’t have reason to doubt him yet.

Maddie massaged her temples. What was she not seeing? She grabbed a notebook and began to write it in:

Facts About Phantom:

  * Dead for three years
  * Has been aging at the same rate as humans
  * Appeared to be an older teenager now, perhaps seventeen? Eighteen?
  * Incredibly strong
  * Sometimes appears to be breathing?
  * Hero obsession? Protection obsession? Not well defined, not exhibited the same way that other ghost obsessions are expressed
  * Cryo abilities
  * Close to Jazz - she knew how he died when he was only 1 year?



Maddie put down her pencil and yawned. There were things here. Good things. But she was still missing something. There was something that was tugging on her, a phrase that she had been hearing during this loop that kept on coming up. Something that Technus ghost had said each time. He called Phantom something. A halfuh? Half-of? Half of what? She scribbled the word down and circled it. There was something important about that word. After a pause she also wrote down ‘déjà vu’. The clock ghost, Clockwork was his name? He had said that because ghosts were adjacent to their reality, Phantom was experiencing déjà vu because of her. 

Maddie tapped her pencil on the notebook and suppressed another yawn. Her body was exhausted, having not actually slept for over two days now. Or had she? Did she get any sleep without realising it in this repeating hell? Thinking about it was too confusing. She had to press on. She knew she could. Maddie blinked her watery eyes and looked back at her notebook. What on that list needed more investigation? She went down her list again.

  * Dead for three years
  * **Has been aging at the same rate as humans**
  * **Appeared to be an older teenager now, perhaps seventeen? Eighteen?**
  * Incredibly strong
  * **Sometimes appears to be breathing?**
  * **Hero obsession? Protection obsession? Not well defined, not exhibited the same way that other ghost obsessions are expressed**
  * Cryo abilities
  * **Close to Jazz - she knew how he died when he was only 1 year?**
  * **Half-of**
  * **Déjà vu**



The first point, the aging. What did that mean? Only recently had she and Jack begun to look at how Phantom was aging. On her computer she brought up their earliest photograph of Phantom. It was about a month, two months from when they first spotted him in Amity Park. The spectre was shorter and skinnier; his arms looked almost like toothpick arms. She could laugh; he reminded her of how skinny Danny had been when he was younger. She then selected another photo, this one from around two years ago, just after the incident with the Ghost King. Phantom had aged. The differences were subtle, but still there. He looked a bit taller, though height was difficult to tell with ghosts. His jaw looked slightly more defined. He had more defined muscle in his arms as well. Maddie then selected a more recent photo, around ten months ago. Again, the changes were subtle but there. His jaw was more square, he looked longer, taller. He had lean, defined muscles and- _wait a second were those facial hairs_? Did Phantom _shave_?! Maddie placed her head in her hands.

What the actual fuck?

As far as Maddie knew, ghosts did not grow hair. Their appearances sometimes changed, but they certainly did not _shave_. But if she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine him doing so. The teenager with a ghostly glow, dragging a razor across his glowing cheek. Just like Danny.

A thread broke. 

Something about that image was so telling. But of _what_? Was it because it seemed so, so mundane? So human?

Phantom did seem human. Eerily so at times. She and Jack often caught him ‘breathing’, panting on exertion, yawning when tired. She and Jack had always determined that Phantom was just doing it as an act, to fool the residents of Amity Park into thinking that he was more ‘human’ and could be trusted. Jazz’s words echoed in her head. Her daughter had a point.

Did she have any proof to back that assertion, though?

The sound of a pen dropping took Maddie out of her thoughts. She turned around to see Danny standing there with wide blue eyes, staring not at the computer screen, but at her handwritten list.

“Danny?”

“Wh-where did you hear that word?” he asked. Maddie frowned and looked at her list.

“What word? Half-of? A ghost said it earlier today to Phantom,” Maddie said. She turned back to her son who was white as a sheet. It looked like the floor had been pulled out from under him. “Danny? Honey? Do you know what it means?” Her son just silently shook. She reached out for him.

“Danny?”

“It’s halfa. With an ‘a’ at the end, not ‘of’,” he whispered, not looking at her. Maddie felt her lungs tighten. Something wasn’t right.

“What does that mean?”

“You uh, you should talk to him. Phantom.”

“Honey, I don’t have a way to get in contact with him. I don’t even know where he-”

“The roof. He’ll be on the roof at 10,” Danny muttered. Before Maddie could respond he disappeared up the stairs. She felt dread seep into her bones.

Something was on the horizon, but she couldn’t see what. It was an incomplete jigsaw puzzle. Once she had that last piece the truth would finally reveal itself. Maddie sat at her station for a few minutes collecting her thoughts. Why did Danny know where Phantom would be? Maddie walked up the stairs and knocked on Danny’s door.

“Danny? Danny, I just want to ask you a question,” she said through the door. There was no answer. She paused for a few moments. 

“Danny, I’m coming in!” Maddie opened the door to his room to see nothing. She sighed. He had again seemingly vanished in thin air. Of course he would. She looked at Danny’s clock: 9:45. She had been awake for an absurd amount of unknown hours already. Maybe. Either way, her body screamed for her to go to bed. She ignored it and instead walked down the stairs to the main floor. Might as well grab her jacket and wait for Phantom on the roof. 

“Mom?” Maddie turned to see Jazz standing in the kitchen. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t even noticed her daughter.

“Sorry, Jazz. I have a lot on my mind,” she said. Jazz placed a hand on her mom’s arm, bringing her back to the moment. 

“It’s Phantom, huh?”

“Yeah. Danny uh, he said that Phantom will be on the roof at 10. Though I have to admit, I’m still concerned as to why Danny knows this.” She picked up her jacket from the hook. “I’m going to wait for him on the roof.”

“Mom, wait.” Maddie stopped. Her daughter passed her two steaming hot mugs. Maddie raised an eyebrow. “Hot chocolate. For the two of you,” Jazz explained. 

“You knew I was going to see Phantom.” Maddie didn’t say this accusatory, just plainly as a fact. Jazz nodded.

“It’ll be okay.”

“Thank you, Jasmine.” Maddie gave her a kiss and picked up the mugs before climbing up the stairs to the roof. She paused at the door. There she was, about to go out on her roof for the second time that day, hoping to see the ever elusive ghost boy. She gave a steadying breath to calm herself. 

Alright, Madeline. Here we go.

Heart still thumping in her chest, she opened the door. Just as before, floating in front of her was Phantom. He seemed to be much more subdued than earlier. He was slouching, leaning his arms against the railing. Maddie walked over and handed Phantom his mug of hot chocolate. The ghost looked surprised at the gesture, looking at the mug and then to Maddie. Then he gave a smile and accepted her token of good faith.

“Thanks,” he said softly. Maddie nodded and took a sip of her’s. She jerked it away after her sip and bit her lip. 

“Is it too hot? Here.” The spectre gingerly touched her mug. Maddie felt it cool. He took his hand away and she took a sip. 

“Better?”

“Yes, thank you,” Maddie said. The two stayed there in silence for a few minutes. Finally Maddie sighed and turned to Phantom.

“Danny said that you’d be here.”

“Yup.”

“You two are close, aren’t you?” Phantom gave a humourless laugh at this.

“More than you know.” Maddie frowned.

“Your connection with Danny. That’s part of what I need to find out to break this loop, isn’t it?”

“You got it,” Phantom said. She took another sip of hot chocolate and looked at the ghost who was floating so close to her. In his soft glow were small patches of stubble. 

“Do you shave?” she asked. The ghost seemed taken aback by her question, sputtering some of his hot chocolate.

“Do I _what_? You want to know if I shave?”

“Exactly. Do you shave? You’ve grown facial hairs over the years.” The boy scratched his cheek.

“I mean, yeah? Though I don’t have to as often as I’d like,” he said with a pout. 

“So you really are still aging. You’re still going through puberty.”

“And all of its wonders, unfortunately.”

“Fascinating. Normally a ghost is static, forever the age they are when turned. The echo they are based from can only hold on to memories, so it can’t become something it never had the chance to be. Unless of course if it's a ghost formed in the Ghost Zone. Though I don’t believe you were,” Maddie explained. He nodded in response.

“That’s not all, though. Your actions, even the ones you do without realising, are so very human. You breathe at times even though you don’t need to. You yawn, even though Jack and I have never seen another ghost exhibiting that behaviour. You even drink hot chocolate.” Phantom gave a small smile before taking another sip.

“You are dead, you emit ectoplasm and can use it to fight, you’re able to disappear, go intangible, fly. By those accounts you are a ghost, created in our world after your human self died. But there are so many parts to you that are contrary to that, that don’t fit the mold of what a ghost is. Unless, of course, if you are a different type of ghost entirely. A, what is it? A ‘half-of’ ghost?”

“Halfa. And uh, yeah. Wow. You got it,” Phantom said.

“A halfa ghost,” Maddie confirmed. Another thread broke and Maddie grinned. She’d figured it out! Completely on her own. The rush of success hit her like a train and she staggered backwards. Phantom quickly grabbed onto her.

“Whoa, M-Maddie. Are you okay?” he asked. Maddie tried to nod, but the exhaustion had finally caught up to her. Her eyes drooped closed. She found it incredibly hard to force them back open, so she just kept them closed.

“I’m so sorry, Phantom. I’m just, tired.”

She didn’t complain when she felt that familiar-yet-unnatural feeling of becoming intangible. She vaguely registered being taken through her house and into her bedroom. Phantom was quite strong, she noted, being able to carry her so easily. Her body hit her firm mattress and sleep overtook her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the story of Maddie, Jack and Jazz laughing at a crying Danny, who then started to cry even harder? Yeah, that's based off a true story. The real story is a bit different but the idea is the same: my entire family was LAUGHING at my misfortune. Poor nine-year-old Red...
> 
> The last chapter will be posted tomorrow! So exciting >w<


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're at the last chapter! <3

Maddie’s eyes fluttered open. The exhaustion from the day before had melted away, leaving her feeling not quite refreshed, but awake. Alert and oriented. The previous day relayed itself in her mind. She found out what it was about Phantom that had been eluding her for so long: he was a different type of ghost! An ecto-being that she had never even heard of! The discovery excited her beyond measure. It could possibly revolutionize the field of ghost studies. She turned to her clock and wondered if she had come across any other ‘halfas’ before when she froze.

No.

Her clock stared back mockingly with 06:01. The redhead jumped out of bed. What was she missing?! How was that not it? She had felt the threads breaking! She figured out herself what Phantom was, how he was so different from other ghosts. How was that not enough to free her? She barely stopped herself from screaming.

She was going to break that stupid loop _today,_ goddamn it. Maddie was so close, she could feel it. It was going to happen. That was that. She took the world’s fastest shower and then sped down to the lab. When she turned on her computer she groaned. She had to do that stupid grant application for a fourth time. Fine. Come the next grant application, Jack can deal with it. She quickly went through it, finishing just as Jack came down with her coffee like the times before. Maddie gave him a kiss and then turned back to her station. She would tell of her temporal hell to Jack again, of course she would. Her husband was her biggest supporter and greatest partner, after all. But this time she wanted to think to herself for a little bit. She could feel the last thread pulling at her, nagging her. The scientist took out her notebook to gather her thoughts.

  * She would only escape once she completed her wish
  * Her wish involved Phantom 
    * Jazz says it also involves Danny
  * Phantom is a Halfa
  * Phantom is close to Danny??
  * Danny seems to know what a halfa is. Why?



Maddie sighed. Her best course of action would probably be to get Danny to explain to her what exactly a halfa is. She knew the term now, yes. But not what that exactly meant. The scientist tapped her pen against the paper, hoping that something would reveal itself. Jack’s voice brought her out of her thoughts.

“Madds, it’s 7:30. Are you going to wake up Dann-o or should I?”

“Oh, sorry I hadn’t realized the time. I’ll do it,” Maddie said absently. Jack smiled.

“Are you working on a shopping list? Jot down that we need some more fudge,” he said. Maddie just nodded and went upstairs to wake her youngest. Maddie was done and tired of the little game she played with him every morning. The mother burst open the door, ripped off his sheets and grabbed his ear.

“M-mom!! Ow, what’s that for? Where’s the shoulder shake?” Danny complained. Maddie huffed. 

“I’m exhausted and not playing around today. Come on, get yourself downstairs for breakfast.” With that Maddie turned around and left her son’s bedroom. Maybe she wasn’t about to win mom of the year with her parenting there, but she was just tired. She gave a quick smile to Jazz as she walked into the kitchen.

“Good morning, Jazz,” she said. Maddie began making toast for her and her husband. Her daughter gave a yawn.

“Morning, mom.”

“Make sure you get enough sleep,” Maddie said. Jazz just shrugged.

“I am, don’t worry. More than some people,” she muttered. Maddie decided not to comment on it, falling into her own thoughts and she made her toast. Phantom was a halfa, right? What could that really mean, though? A halfa ghost. ‘Half a’ what? Half a ghost? What was the other half?

“Jazzerincess! How are you this morning?” Jack asked. Maddie didn’t even notice that her husband had entered the kitchen. She absently passed Jack his plate and sat down herself.

“I’m good, dad. How did you sleep?”

“Like a rock!” Jack declared proudly. He gave Maddie a quick thanks and began to eat his toast.

“Lucky you,” Danny muttered. He had managed to sneak up on her again. Her son then paused what he was doing and shook his head.

“Déjà vu… weird,” he muttered. The world froze.

Déjà vu?

Maddie’s entire world came crashing down with those two words. Clockwork had said only ghosts could have déjà vu from her time loop, and only Phantom was experiencing it. Danny was close to Phantom. He knew what a halfa was.

Half a ghost.

“Half a human,” Maddie mumbled. There was a snap and the last thread broke. Danny turned to her, his head tilted.

“Did you say something, mom?” he asked. Maddie just shook her head silently. Her son was half ghost. A halfa. Phantom. How had she not seen it? They look so similar, for fucks sake! All of their inventions went off around Danny not because of some mistake on their end or some ecto-contamination on Danny. No, they were working just as they were supposed to. They were picking up on the ghost _right beside them this entire time!_

How had she been so stupid?

“Oh, would you look at the time! I’m going to drive Danny to school. See you guys later, bye!” Jazz called out, dragging Danny with her. Maddie could only stare blankly.

“You alright there, Maddie?” Jack asked. Maddie just nodded slowly.

“Didn’t sleep well last night,” she said flatly. Her husband shrugged and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Well, you’ve already done the grant application so how about you take it easy today? I’ll even take it to the post office,” Jack suggested.

“No. No, I… I’ll take it.”

“If you’re sure,” Jack said carefully. He gave her a kiss on the temple and made his way to the lab, leaving Maddie alone to her thoughts.

She didn’t even know where to begin.

There was the not realising for three years that apparently her son had _died_? What kind of a mother didn’t notice that her child was dead? Was she that blind to her children, that obsessed with her work? Oh, and then there was the fact that she, one of the world’s leading experts in ghosts, couldn’t even tell that her teenage son that lived with her was a ghost himself. It was so fucking obvious. The clues were everywhere, she had just refused to look at them. 

And then there was the fact that he was _Phantom_. Maddie’s heart sank and her entire chest constricted. For those first two years she had been so set on hunting him. On capturing him and dissecting him, ripping him apart molecule by molecule. She had been hunting her own son! She’d shot at him, hurt him. More than once. Her little boy. God, no wonder he had withdrawn so much from her. It was a miracle he could even stand to be in the same room as her. 

She placed her head in her hands and began to cry. Not loudly, but in spurts. Her breaths were shallow and irregular as she let the tears flow. Maddie was a woman who took pride in controlling herself and her emotions for the most part. She felt no pride now.

Minutes passed and she heard the front door open and close. Shit, Jazz had come back from dropping Danny off. She quickly wiped her tears, hoping that Jazz wouldn’t notice her breakdown at the kitchen table. 

Sadly, Maddie was unable to afford such small mercies.

“Mom? Are you crying?” Jazz asked. She sat down next to Maddie and placed a hand on her back. She began to rub soft circles.

“Mom, what’s going on?” Maddie kept her eyes down on the table.

“How are you able to look at me, care about me, call me mom? After all the things I’ve done.” Jazz’s hand stopped.

“What do you mean by that?” Jazz asked carefully. Maddie shuddered and sniffed back more tears.

“I _know_ , Jazz. I know everything. I can’t believe you can stand to be in the same _room_ as me after the things I’ve said about your brother. The things I’ve done to him. I’ve even shot him.”

“Mom, you didn’t know-”

“Don’t you get it, Jazz?! I shot at him! Danny! My little boy and I _shot_ him!” Maddie looked up at Jazz, showing her red face. 

“Oh, mom.” Jazz wrapped her arms around Maddie. She felt selfish and weak, but she didn’t move away, instead letting her daughter comfort her. Maddie placed her head on her daughter’s shoulder and began to cry again. She wanted to stop but just couldn’t; the tears seemed endless. Jazz only rubbed her mother’s back, whispering “it’s okay”. After a few minutes Maddie’s breathing began to steady. She pushed herself away and looked at Jazz. 

“Jazz, how can I face him? After everything that’s happened, everything I’ve done. How did I never notice that my own son was dead?”

“ _Half_ dead. He kept it secret from everyone, me included. I only found out because I saw him transform right in front of me. Plus I mean, why would you ever expect that Danny was a ghost? It’s so out there that the idea never would have crossed your mind. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“You don’t understand, Jazz. I’m an awful mother, I’ve been so negligent to both of you, I-” Jazz shook her mother by the shoulders.

“Get yourself together, woman!” Maddie looked at her daughter in a daze.

“Wh-what-”

“Now I know, I _know_ you feel guilty for trying to hunt Danny, and how you feel terrible for not noticing that Danny’s half ghost but that is NOT your fault. A-and sitting here, feeling sorry for yourself? It isn’t going to fix anything.”

Maddie leaned back, stunned. She took a few breaths.

“You’re right,” she said. Jazz gave a quick smile.

“Yeah, I know.” Maddie shook her head softly and gave a small laugh. The two sat together in silence, letting the words settle around them. Eventually Jazz broke the silence.

“So uh, how did you find out?” Jazz asked. At this Maddie gave a quick laugh. 

“Oh, god. If I hadn’t told you before I’d say you would never believe me,” she said. She put her hands together and exhaled. “Okay, so. I made a wish apparently, and while I don’t know what it was, I’ve been trapped in a time loop of today until I fulfilled it. Long story short, I learned through that uh, Clockwork ghost that it was related to Phantom, but because _I_ had to ‘find the truth’ myself, no one could tell me what it was. Yesterday I told you for the first time, and you said that Danny was also related. It’s been days of trying to get this figured out, getting clues here and there.”

“Wow,” is all Jazz said.

“Yeah.” The two fell back into a silence, this time Jazz digesting information. She gave a nod.

“Okay, okay. Alright. Well, what now?” Jazz asked. Maddie frowned.

“What do you mean ‘what now’?”

“I mean exactly that: what now? You know Danny’s secret. What are you going to do with this information?”

“I’m… I’m not quite sure,” the mother admitted.

“Well, what do you want to do?”

“Well I _want_ Danny to no longer fight ghosts alone, but I know that’s not very realistic. I want him to forgive me. I want to support him.”

“You’re going to tell him that you know?”

“Yes. I think we could all do with less secrets. And I think… I think I know exactly how I can help him out,” Maddie said with a smile. 

* * *

It was surprising how much she could see her little boy in Phantom’s actions when she saw him at the post office later that morning. Now that she knew he was Danny she couldn’t help but notice how obvious it really was. His manner of speech, his movements - they were all so _Danny_. Like the day before, Maddie had Phantom agree to meet with her that evening on the roof. She felt such guilt, she was so close to breaking down and begging for forgiveness as soon as she saw him. But disrupting Danny during his school day wasn’t going to help him. She had resolved to tell him later on. She continued to go through her day, including the ghost attack at the mall, and then made her way to the school to talk to Mr. Lancer for the _fifth_ and now last time. She was buzzing in anticipation. This time was certainly going to be different. For the better. 

Maddie walked into Mr. Lancer’s office and took her seat. Danny came in right behind her, breathing heavily after flying from the mall. Maddie couldn’t help but feel a bit of guilt for not offering Danny a ride to the school, but she didn’t want to let him know that she knew her secret. Not quite yet.

“Mrs. Fenton, thank you for coming in,” Mr. Lancer said. Maddie nodded.

“Thanks for organizing this. I assume that this is due to Danny’s absences?”

“Good guess, Mrs. Fenton. It’s almost the end of term and Daniel has already accumulated twelve absences from my class alone.”

Maddie exhaled; it still hurt to hear. She nodded, signaling the teacher to continue.

“And that’s not including his almost constant tardiness or attempts to leave the classroom early,” he explained.

“So how is this affecting Danny’s studies?” 

“Ah, getting straight to it. Right. For Daniel to have a chance at graduation, we need to develop a learning plan.” 

“Graduation? What, you mean I might not graduate?!” Danny cried. Maddie closed her eyes. Alright, that’s all she needed from this meeting: making sure Danny understood what the situation was when it came to his schooling. Now it was time to make things at least… a little bit easier for him.

“You’re saying that Danny needs to get grades that are better than just passing because of his absences,” Maddie said. 

“ _The House of the Scorpion_ , you’re astute. Yes, that’s exactly right. Daniel needs to achieve at least a C+ average. I want you to succeed, Mr. Fenton. This is why we’re going to develop a learning plan. I’m suggesting that three times a week you will come to my office during the lunch hour and use the time to complete your school work. I’m hoping, Mrs. Fenton, that a couple of times a week you might be able to have Danny work on his studies while in the same room as you.” 

“You can’t be serious!” Danny said. Maddie placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder.

“Danny, please. Mr. Lancer, while I agree with your idea of having Jack and myself supervising Danny’s work at home, I’m afraid that he might not be able to stay for the entirety of his lunch breaks with you every time.”

“W-what?”

“And why is that, Mrs. Fenton?” Mr. Lancer asked. Maddie took a deep breath. This is what she had come up with to help Danny at school.

“Jack and I are going to begin training Danny properly to follow our footsteps in ghost hunting, having him join us on hunts. The family business and all. As I’m sure you can appreciate though, ghost attacks aren’t something that are scheduled. So we’ll be taking Danny out of school at various times to join us, which might include your class time.”

Danny looked at her with wide eyes and conflicting emotions on his face.

“Are you serious?” he asked.

“You can’t be serious. I can’t have Danny missing more classroom time,” Mr. Lancer said. Maddie shook her head.

“I assure you, he won’t be missing more time than he already is. Besides, school is often interrupted anyway by ghost attacks. It shouldn’t be too much of a change of pace. Only this time you’ll know where he’s gone,” she explained. Mr. Lancer crossed his arms.

“I’m not entirely convinced that this will be enough for Daniel to meet the requirements for graduation-”

“And I assure you, he will. Let’s at least give this a try, see how he’s doing in a month or two.” Maddie locked eyes with the teacher, daring him to object. He broke eye contact and sighed.

“Fine. We’ll give it a month trial. If you two could sign this… unconventional learning plan.” Mr. Lancer’s frustration at Maddie’s insistence was obvious but as a true professional he kept his voice even. He was clearly a master of pleasantries with passive aggression. She signed the contract and gave him a curt nod before walking to the GAV with Danny. He kept on giving her quick glances, then looking forward as if to avoid being ‘caught’. Maddie bit her lip. She didn’t want Danny to be feeling uncomfortable around her. Once they reached the GAV Maddie spoke up, “Don’t worry, I’ve disabled the Spectral Deflector.”

“Huh? W-why do you say that?” Danny asked.

“No reason.” The two climbed into the car and Maddie drove out of the parking lot.

“Mom,” Danny began, “are you and dad really planning on taking me out of school to go ghost hunting?”

“Maybe not us specifically, but I have a feeling we’ll see you out there.”

“W-what do you mean? I don’t go ghost hunting. I run and hide from a ghost, just like you guys tell me to. Leave it to the professionals.”

“Of course you do, sweetie,” Maddie said. Danny shifted in his seat. Maybe Maddie should be a bit less obvious. She was going to be telling him in just an hour but. She didn’t really want this to be a conversation where Danny felt trapped, like being in the GAV. Though, he could just become intangible and disappear, couldn’t he? Was he able to do that when he wasn’t in his ‘Phantom’ form?

“I do have to say though, Danny. You have to understand how close you are to not graduating. We need to find out a system for you to actually do your studies. You do want to graduate, right?”

“Of course I do! Mom, I don’t want to be a dropout o-or anything like that.”

“So I’m going to help you. I know you’re not thrilled about it, but I do intend to keep my promise to Mr. Lancer and supervise your studies twice a week,” Maddie said. The teen slouched in his seat and looked out the window.

“I’m only doing this because I want to help you. I love you, Danny.”

“I-I know. I love you too, mom.” Maddie pulled into their parking spot outside of their home and parked the car. The two got out of the car and Danny immediately sped up the stairs. Maddie gave a weak smile. She wanted to let him do whatever it was to get himself ready for their conversation. The mother walked into the kitchen and made hot chocolate for the two of them. Jazz’s idea last night had been a good idea. No reason not to use it again. Maddie took out her red mug and Danny’s special NASA mug. He got it from Sam for his birthday last year and the rule was that no one else was allowed to use it. Slowly she poured the hot chocolate in both mugs and slowly began to climb up the stairs to the roof. Taking extra care to not spill the hot chocolate, Maddie opened the door and stepped onto the roof. Just like the day before floating in front of her was a very nervous looking boy. 

“Maddie! H-hello,” he said. Maddie felt her features soften.

“Hi, Phantom. I’m happy you showed up,” she said. Danny scratched his neck nervously.

“Yeah, I guess. I wasn’t quite sure if I was going to.”

“I’m glad you did. I asked you to meet me here cause… Well it’s a bit of a long story, to be honest. Here, have some hot chocolate,” she said, passing the ghost his NASA mug. His eyes widened in surprise but he said nothing.

“I’m going to tell you something that’s a bit hard to believe, but I need you to stick with me. I’ve been in a time loop. I’ve been living Thursday over and over again. And honestly? It’s been kinda awful. On the third day I tried to summon the Ghost King, but instead ended up summoning you. You brought me to that uh, clock guy. Clockwork. And he told me that I had apparently made a wish that trapped me in this time loop. Not only that, but the wish that I made was related to you. Until I fulfilled this wish I would continue to live in this time loop. Not only that, but I couldn’t have someone tell me what the answer was, they literally physically couldn’t. I had to figure it out myself.” Maddie looked up from her mug to see panic on the ghost’s face. He was shaking. She felt her heart begin to break.

“Danny… Sweetie I’m so, so sorry. I, I have no idea how hard this must have been for you, all of these years. I hunted you, I shot at you, I must have made you feel so unsafe in your own home. I can never, _never_ apologize enough to you.” Maddie fell onto her knees, her entire body shaking with tears. The overwhelming guilt was crushing, almost literally.

“You don’t expect you to forgive me, what I’ve done is unforgivable. But if there’s anything, anything I can do to show you how serious I am-”

“It’s okay, mom. Really. I’ve never blamed you, or hated you, or, or _anything_ , really. I-I love you. You’re my mom. I, I need you,” Danny said. He wrapped his arms around her and held her shaking body tightly in his arms. Loud, ugly sobs erupted from Maddie’s chest.

“I’ll always be your mom. I love you so much, no matter what. My little boy,” she said between sobs. Her nose was beginning to run. His hands began to rub up and down her back in a soothing motion.

“You, you’re not mad?” Danny asked hesitantly. Maddie gave a single laugh.

“Oh, sweetie. I-I probably am upset at you f-for putting yourself in danger, but I’m too overwhelmed right now to know.” 

“Not an immediate grounding. I’ll take it.” The two stayed together hugging for a few moments until Maddie calmed down. She gently pulled herself off of her son’s shoulder, sniffing back some snot. She frowned when she saw the small puddle of snot and tears she left behind.

“I’m sorry, I cried all over you,” Maddie said softly. Danny looked at his shoulder.

“I can fix that.” He made his body intangible, letting the snot puddle fall through his body and onto the ground.

“W-wow.”

“Useful, huh?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“You want to see how I change, right?” Danny asked with a knowing grin. Maddie couldn’t help but smile back. He looked so… hauntingly handsome like that: standing tall, shoulders back, softly glowing with a confident smile. She gave a small nod and she watched as a ring of bright white light surrounded his torso before splitting apart, leaving behind his human form. Once it reached the bottom of his feet and top of his head the light disappeared.

“Ta-da?” Danny said, punctuating his words with jazz hands. Maddie pushed herself off her knees and gave him a tight hug.

“I’m so, so sorry.”

“It’s okay mom, really.”

“I just, I need you to know how much I really mean it.”

“I-I do. You don’t need to keep on saying it.”

“No, you don’t. But that’s okay. Come on, I have to finish making dinner. I’d like my little helper, if that’s okay.”

“I’m not little, mom. I’m taller than dad,” he groaned while continuing to smile.

“You’ll always be my little boy.” Maddie wiped away the last of her tears and the two of them went back inside, leaving Danny’s biggest secret behind him. There was still so much to talk about, so much that Maddie still didn't quite understand, not to mention how they would tell Jack. But Maddie decided that they could worry about that a different day. Today, all she wanted was to spend the evening with her son.

When Maddie woke up the next morning it was Friday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have it! I have to apologize; I had a lot of difficulty with the ending. Would you believe that this ending was even better than what I had originally? Despite my difficulties, though, I'm honestly really happy with this fic and how the story wrapped up. I'm a sucker for a happy ending :') I only hope that you enjoyed reading this even half as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you to everyone who's been commenting, bookmarking, leaving kudos, and even just reading passively.
> 
> <3 Red


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